I am 21 and I just found out that I have rheumatoid arthritis in my fingers

I think a little part, no ,a huge chunk inside of me just died.

Why the fuck does life keep piling shit...
what's the fucking point....

that's sick... I even wonder if I should ++, or it's just as liking some rip status on facebook. I'm sorry for you :-/

all the best to you... never forget there are also nice things in life!

Bro, be strong!

hay not in same but similar situation atm, if you love working with code you will find a way stay stong and go on

Is there a way to prevent this?

@DeveloperACE it's an auto immune disorder which no one knows why it happens.
no one in my family has it.
there are no causes to it (none the doctors have found till date)
there is no cure except pain meds , steroids (to keep inflammation at bay) and a mild form of chemotherapy(which could slow down the process).

it's basically your body attacking its own self by mistake.

@Michel Not sure if you're trying to be funny or trying to make fun of my disease.
either way, not funny

thank you all. nothing more I could day than stay positive as there is no cure.

Guess you need to work at a company that does pair programming, and have your partner always drive!

@ctrlz thanks.
though when you can't do what you love because of a random disease which is super rare for your age, you kinda stop believing in life.
besides developing, I love to go to the gym and play guitar.
soon, as the disease progresses, I probably won't be able to do that.
I won't be able to do the things that define who I am.
it's insane, I never even could imagine it happening.
there's no reason for it. nothing I did caused it, nothing in my parents genetics caused it.
I am a very fit person who plays sports and goes to the gym regularly.

and now not only will I be not able to do the only few things I love, I will be in continuous pain .
so yeah, nice things....

@mclovinit it may sound sad, but I don't really have friends. I have a lot of acquaintances, but I am weird, I never fit in anywhere. always the outcast.
I wonder if this is the reason why all these things happen to me, natural selection and shit.
as for support, I don't really have many people and even more so,I don't know how to ask for someone's support, cause i have never had it.

this may sound pessimistic as shit, but right now, as I type this with my right hand, my left is in so much discomfort, I wish I could just remove my fingers for awhile.
and the worst part is that it's only going to get worse and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

also, I have all of my life ahead of me to live with this problem.

https://youtu.be/8SkdfdXWYaI this is a cool video "Using Python to code by voice." Watched it a few years back. Wouldn't do it myself, but he's got it down pretty well.

@tysa not trying to be funny, trying to help! It is a possible solution of you want to keep programming.

My cousin is one of the original developers of Siri. She now works for a voice to speech company called Dragon I believe? I can hook you up with some software bro.

I really love how you guys are so positive and giving me what I could do now 🙂
shows how positive minded you all are (or maybe you just don't understand the depth of this issue 😏)

I think there is absolutely no benefit of wallowing in self pity, regardless of how much I want to.

though I just found out my love for programming and had many ideas of what I wanted to develop, and it just makes me so angry 😣😣
I am not sad, just angry.
I just want a break .

anyways, I guess that's life.
At least I am not in a concentration camp/starving/in a terrorist area.. etc

I don't think I can let this problem stop me.
otw life will always be depressing and unfair until I die.

@fyroc thanks for the gesture!
I can write code right now and will probably be able to do so for about 5 more years (depends on how the disease progresses) , though it is in a lot of discomfort.
I try not to focus on it though.

but I will definitely look into it when it gets too bad.
thank you for the initiative though 🙂

@Michel okay, thanks 🙂

@fr33solo thank you! 😄this looks promising

@Christine that's a good idea, thanks!

@tysa I can/should not even imagine how you are feeling, I'm sorry. I just wanted to let you know out of experience I know that people learn to live with their limits. that's in people's nature.

@tysa No problem. And good luck with everything! Arthritis is my sorority's main philanthropy (http://alphaomicronpi.org/aoii-figh...), so in a way, you've got thousands of women across the nation wishing you the best!

check if you can get a robotic controlled prosthetic hand connected to nerve endings (if possible not sure about rhumtoid arthritis and how it effects nerve endings)?

If I could right now, build something that ghost in the shell showed where the finger tips branch into multiple wires with square tips, and begins to type on a keyboard.

chemo not only takes away pathogens but also good dna in the hope that the good dna would thrive again

@ctrlz no issues 🙂
thank you for your concern and desire to help 😊 there is nothing more anyone can do about it.

@Christine wow, your sorority is really making a positive difference in the world !
thank you for the support!, it really does help to know that someone is rooting for you in your private battles 😄

@deygrey
well as this progresses, the joints in my fingers could break down completely and the 2 bones would start to merge. imagine having sticks for your fingers.

now there is a intensive surgery, in which they place an artificial joint between my fingers, but that is super expensive, considering it would be needed to be done for 10 fingers.

prosthetic is for when you don't have a limb but that's not the case here.

the only solution is either chemo or intensive surgery.

@deygrey yes, that's absolutely correct.
it completely destroys your immune system.
but what can you do? after a certain point, there's no other way.

Bro just be patient, you will find out a solution, we all do. True spirit of a developer. And your support group's name is devRant ☺, we all are here for you.

@kshitij thank you! 😊
reading comments here does make me feel optimistic.

I got diagnosed with arthritis at 24 (a year ago) felt the same then I realised I'm fortunate to live in a time where there is good medication possible cures and worst case scenario sensitive type pads. You'll be fine! Positive attitude will honestly help a tremendous amount...

There are some meds that have had some success but are generally pretty expensive even with insurance. Humira and Enbrel are a few I've heard. My dad is taking some methotrexate meds for it and he's doing better. Have they tried any treatments yet?

@tysa You fit in here, we are all friends ;)

@nblackburn 🙂

@tysa @donkeyScript +1 for biologics. I haven't had success with them so far, but it's worth a try. Much better risk-reward ratio than DMARDs, but not cheap if your insurance doesn't cover it. NSAIDs are not a long term solution, trust me, I had taken them for way too long. Opiods block the pain and that's great for some time (and also to avoid chronification of the pain itself), but the disease will still progress, maybe even faster because you might stop other (causal, non-drug) treatments when there is no pain.

Otherwise there are lots of small things you can try: diet, exercise, supplements (don't buy into every scam, but there are a few worth trying)

I know it's hard, as I have a similar illness myself. I couldn't say whether I'd like to switch, but there is no point saying one is better or worse anyway. I have dealt with my issues for 4 years now without effective treatment and I'm not in good shape, but still alive. So don't pity yourself, get the best treatment available.