Comedy queen Lucille Ball of “I love Lucy” fame is among the famous people who have had suffered from arthritis, a disabling and crippling disease that has affected over 40 million people in the United States alone, media reports say. There are 20 million people who live with the signs of arthritis but have not been identified and remains clueless that they have the illness, which may later cause many people to undergo hip implant surgery and file a DePuy Pinnacle lawsuit.
Arthritis is a disorder featuring inflammation in the joint. A joint is an area of the body where two different bones meet and functions to move the body parts connected by its bones. Arthritis literally means inflammation of one or more joints, MedicineNet.com says.
Ball had been experiencing the pain from rheumatoid arthritis since she was 17 but it was not a hindrance for her in fulfilling her aspirations in life. Her first deal against the sickness came while she was working as a model for Hattie Carnegie’s famous dress shop. She felt terrible pain in her legs and the doctor who checked her condition felt that she probably end up in a wheelchair as a result of the illness. Ball was later referred to an orthopedic clinic near Columbia University where she was given experimental “horse serum” shots for several weeks that only drained her money but did not stop the pain. Frightened and discouraged, she returned to her parent’s home in Jamestown, New York.
According to Carol and Richard Eustice, the people behind About.com’s Arthritis Guide, who both have rheumatoid arthritis as well, said that slowly the pain subsided and finally one day with the support of her father and doctor, Ball stood up, feeling wobbly and unsteady. Her left leg was turned shorter than her right leg and it pulled sideways. To make it right, she began wearing a 20-pound weight in one of her black orthopedic shoes. Even if Ball had enduring pain, she was able to secure the slot being offered to her with the Jamestown Players and she later returned to New York City in search of her dreams.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that yearly arthritis is being blamed for over 9,000 deaths and 750,000 hospitalizations, and it constrained the activities of over eight million people. The infection costs the US economy over $80 billion in Medical Care and lost wages.
One of the most famous kind of arthritis is rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks joint cells, causing chronic inflammation and swelling of the joints. This is the most debilitating form of the disease that can make even the simplest activities – like opening a jar or walking – extremely difficult.
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