What keeps you up at night?

For me there are a few things: the pets wandering around, worrying Affie might have another seizure, pain, tossing and turning to find a more comfortable position, the scratch of the fan spinning about but, the most annoying one of all, needing to crack my right ankle every few minutes.

If you’ve ever had to crack your knuckles, you know there is this feeling of empty space inside that joint. I never experienced this until my Rheumatoid Arthritis got a little worse. In fact, anyone who knew me back in high school would tell you I had a severe phobia of the sound of cracking knuckles. Once my joints freaked out, I got over it. I had to or I would go crazy.

Everyone has mixed opinions on cracking joints. Many say it’s not good and weakens the ligaments and tendons over time. Other say this is not case and there is only an air pocket trapped inside.

When I first noticed the sensation I cracked my ankles and experienced and extraordinarily sharp pain. As I continued the motion the pain ebbed away.

Now, I crack my ankle every few minutes, especially at night, thankfully with no pain. I try not to but the feeling keeps building and building until it is actually painful. I’ve never heard of this type of pain in people who habitually crack their joints. Is this a by product of my chronic illness or does everyone get this but they just crack their joints so frequently they never get to the point of pain?

What keeps you up at night?

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.