Did anyone else see him at about 6.20 this morning? He was speaking about arthritis so of course my ears pricked up. But then almost the whole interview was about taking exercise to keep muscles strong and prevent inflamation of the joints. It ended with him talking about supplements like cod liver oil and glucosamine.

Don't know about you but I seem to be met constantly with the response that I need to get more exercise/lose weight/ eat more of this or less of that ... Or is it just me?

Didn't see this and from the sound of it, am glad I didn't. It would have sent my BP rocketing!

I didn't see but it sounds as though it was about osteo-arthritis not RA, a completely different kettle of fish entirely. To be honest all that exercise, healthy diet and supplements is probably great to ward off the wear and tear of osteo which is fair enough providing he wasn't trying to say that it is the answer to RA too.

I was a competent athlete, always ate a healthy diet and if anything under weight so it makes not a jot of difference to this disease. It will strike regardless of physical attributes. I now ignore anything about arthritis because it's NOTHING to do with us, we have an immune disorder that affects the joints and not the same thing at all!

So girls don't be getting stressed with yourselves, whatever your lifestyle you would have ended up with RA anyway, luck (or not) of the draw. There are far worse things out there ... and the sun is still shining!

Lyn x

Lyn, just to say I completely agree with what you have said. Doesnt matter what we did, it would have still happened. Like Rose I am 56 and a size 18, did get down to a 14 five years ago when I had my gallbladder out. Slowly crept up, and obviously cant do much exercise now.As you say, things could be far worse!!

It makes me infuriated, the public perception of RA! Like someone mentioned earlier, we could do with someone to redress the balance on GMTV, and tell them how it really is with RA.

Lyn

Are you putting your self forward for that lyn lol u would be good

Tina Wrote ;

" Are you putting your self forward for that lyn lol u would be good "

Hi Lyn I agree you have so much knowledge of this RA we are newbies beside you. You are kind and compassionate and honest without being frightening. We should try to find out how to go about that it would be a big Publicity Appeal for Nras. What about it ? Lorna

Hi everyone,
Years ago, when first diagnosed I read more than once that
R.A was nicknamed "the Athletes disease".
This was because so many sufferers had prior to their R.A
been fitter and more active than their non R.A counterparts!
Love to all,
Fiona

Oh, now I feel really sorry for myself, because I've got osteo as well as the one we don't call arthritis!

Hi there

I saw the interview. Here is a link to the interview if you missed it. http://www.gm.tv/videos/?vxClipId=1441_gmtv_9137

I think the problem is GMTV tried to cover the whole subject of arthritis in 4 mins. They did mention RA but they also covered the other types of arthritis which is due to wear and tear of the joints rather than RA which is an auto-immune disease.

I too get fed up with the general press coverage on arthritis because as you say it seems to state that if you exercise better and change your diet then you can either prevent getting the disease or reduce the impact of the disease. I know I am new to the world of RA but from everything I have read then there is nothing I could have done to prevent getting this disease. I used to go to the gym 4 to 5 times a week and I am a size 10. I have never smoked (neither does any member of my family) and I generally live a healthy lifestyle yet I still got RA. I think if the press is going to talk about arthritis (and I do think that they should publicise this these) then they should try not to lump the whole gamate of the disease into one brief bitesize chunk. It might have been better for GMTV to have had an arthritis week and then cover off different types of arthritis on a different day. That way people can see there is a whole range or inflamation disease and it is best to go to the doctor if they are suffering from inflamation of any type because whilst it might not be osteoarthritis it might be one of the other diseases which affects the body.

I hope this made sense.