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My 72 year old mother has been under the impression, for a couple of years, that she had rheumatoid arthritis. Recently, she saw a specialist who informed her she did not have rheumatoid but that she does have osteo. We are very concerned because since this diagnosis, she has not been back to see any type of arthritis specialist. She refuses to accept what the last physician told her; rather, she still believes she has rheumatoid. While under the impression she had rheumatoid, my family started caring for her on a daily basis. We thought she was near-death basically and were very concerned. Since then, however, we are now beginning to feel slightly manipulated. She does not move from the bed unless it is to use the restroom or to go for her 2x per month pain medication (morphene). Otherwise, she doesn't move. At all. We fix her tea, we bring her mail, her everything. We pay her bills. We make her phone calls. We want to know what is normal to expect from someone her age with osteoarthritis. We feel she has muscle atrophy more than anything else and we have begged and done everything we can to get her to move. She doesn't.
