As some of you may know; my late maternal grandmother suffered from Rheumatoid Arthritis for most of her life.

As well as causing her chronic pain she also felt guilt because of her arthritis. Not just because of the problems which her living with RA caused her family and friends. But also, and to an extent I’m reading between the lines here, he seemed to feel guilt just for having the condition. It was almost is she felt that having RA was her own “fault”. That it was some kind of failing on her part.

I found myself thinking about this while reading an article about guilt in a totally different context. Now given that my grandmother lived through two wars this could explain her feelings of guilt. So I felt I wanted to put this out to my readers.

Firstly I would be very interested to hear your views in a poll I have set up below. Second it would be great if you could share your stories in more detail in the comments section below.

Many thanks in advance.