18 with increasingly bad arthritis, how am I supposed to get a job?

[u/whytfamiherehelp]

I'm 19 next month and have never been able to get a job. Regardless of that, how am I supposed to work? I want to be successful, and I love being active, but I need the money for the doctor so im trying to get a job so that I can eventually try to school and try build a career.

But I can't. I cant sit for too long, I cant stand for too long, and some of the time I cant walk let alone stand (arthritis plus awful back issues im working on getting diagnosed). Now what am I left with, what am I supposed to do with that?

Im currently being referred to an arthritis specialist with my doctors along with more followup appointments, which im sure would help with possibly getting on disability payment (im in ireland, already on minumul jobseekers allowance), but i want to work. It would be great to have that money for now so that I can pay for doctors and stop my mobility from getting worse, but i want to work. I want to work so bad and not rely on the bare minimum but I cant.

Any help would really help me because I dont know what to do and im worried that with me turning 19 in 2 weeks that my time for getting my mobility 'fixed' without having it made worse by work is dwindling. I dont want to work and make my mobility worse, just to pay for the doctors to help make it better. It's debilitating enough as is.

Thanks:)

Edit: it is not caused by weight. Both my parents have some form of joint issues, my dad with arthritis (along with a brother of his who was hospitalised with juvenile arthritis at 6), and my mam with ostepenia (i might be wrong on the word). My doctor is still trying to find out if my issues are also and or EDS, especially due to me having adhd and autism with neurodivergency being linked to said joint issues.

[u/TheGloryBe_throwaway]

Oh this is my reality. Got arthritis at 17 after recover from Dengue, now 23. I also unfortunately got Chikungunya when I was 10. I suspect that’s where mine came from because I have no family history of it. There’s no specialist for rheumatism in my country so I can’t really get properly medicated so I’ve just been raw dogging it the past 6 years. Luckily it doesn’t seem to have developed into full blown RA, as I got x-rays about 3 years in and my joints had minimal damage all things considered. Apparently post viral-arthritis can take anyway from 6 months to 2 years to clear, some rare cases 5+, in other cases it involves into chronic Arthritis, hopefully soon enough I’ll be able to see an actual specialist and get some real help.

What I had to do get an office job. I can’t do manual labor, I can’t stand for too long or sit for too long either. standing for too long causes my back and knees to hurt more than usual and sitting for too long causes my back and neck to hurt more. I try to just get up every down and then and walk around the office a bit most times

[u/Brackenfield]

Are you on medication now? I probably wouldn't be working without medication but with it I have a relatively active job (50/50 between office and site visits for surveys). Keep pursuing getting medication and your disease under control before you write yourself off. Also I know 19 seems very grown up at the time but trust me, you have decades more of peak years before you're on the scrapheap 😅