My first reaction: "I knew it!"
I had done quite a bit of research and had a grandmother who had severe joint damage in her knees and ankles. I'm not sure she was ever treated for RA, or maybe back in the day the treatments were not as good as today. All I knew as a child and young adult was that she had "arthritis." At any rate, I had been getting severe joint pain (after having carpal tunnel syndrome and surgery in both hands, migraines, and other unexplained pain before that). I could barely walk down my stairs in the morning. I had to take them one at a time (I've always been very active and in decent enough shape). So, when I finally got the diagnosis, I just knew it.

Played no attention kept on going.

DinahDee,

Your story feels relatable. It isn't easy to retire when you haven't planned on retiring for a while or ever. One day you just know that you cannot go on working with your pain levels increasing. I hope today is good for you.

Ayesha,
With my original diagnosis the doctors made it sound like they would give me a pill or shot and I would be well!
When the treatment, Methotrexate was not compatible with my body they said this was all they offered. After a year and a half of no treatment I was blessed to be accepted into several clinical trials, with many try and fail meds, until we finally found my working med, XeljanzXR. In this process, one of the Rheumatologist looked me in the eyes and said, "You do know that you are going to get worse before we get you better,
You need to start the paperwork for disability and decide when you are going to retire!"
Well, this came as a total shock and denial on my part, as I was never going to retire..lol. Retirement came at 57 as my body just refused to continue. I am better today at 71 than I was then. But most importantly I have learned to listen to my body, sleep is when we heal, less stress is best and yes those things that need to be done around the house will still be there later on, and that is ok.
Meditation, Tai chi, chair excercises and prayer relieve a lot...remember to breathe! You have got this!

I hope you gonna come back strong, and really the combo of psoriatic & rheumatoid is the worst possible thing. But I have faith in God, hope you get well soon. May God bless you.