Subject: Rheumatoid Arthritis triggered by car accident, anyone else had this?
Minutes after having a car accident I developed fatigue like never before. I had whip lash too and pains in my wrists. The doctor put it all down to whiplash and shock. Several weeks later, still feeling exhausted I started having flare ups in my hands and ankles. My feet became really sore too and the arthritis settled in. I was told I had allsorts from the GP, from tendonitis, carpel tunel to Raynauds syndrome. The GP didn't know what was wrong with me so sent me to Rheumatology who confirmed I had Pallendromic arthritis which has now progressed to Rheumatoid. I am persuing a Personal Injury claim as the man who drove into me did so as he went through a red light doing approx 50 mph. He was given 3 points and fined £150 and I'm left in constant pain on Methotraxate and constantly exhausted and my quality of life is nothing like it was before the accident. My solicitor is finding it difficult to put a value to my claim as there are no previous law cases linking car accidents to causing RA. Only two case studies have been carried out where they show stress as a factor for triggering arthritis. The £800 per hour consultant who saw me this year went through my doctors notes and has linked my bouts of flu in my younger years to the start of the arthritis along with an eye infection (which was for wearing my contact lenses for too long). His verdict is that due to this I would have developed it anyway. I have strongly disagreed with this arguing that people get the flu and the flu goes after 5-10 days. My flu like symptoms have been with me since the accident. I feel so p'd off that all of this was not my fault and I'm left with this horrible condition and I'm struggling to get the compensation I feel I deserve and that yet again the professionals don't want to risk their reputations and have to stand up in a court of law and defend their medical reports so they play it safe. Has anyone else gone through the same as me re: car accidents triggering arthritis???
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