Claire King health: Emmerdale star admits ‘it feels like my whole body is falling apart’

Claire King, 57, has played the role of Kim Tate in ITV’s Emmerdale since 1989. The actress has been open about her almost 30-year battle with rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is a long-term condition that causes painful joints, as well as stiffness and swelling. The condition is something her mother Angela also has.

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Speaking to Mail Online in 2017, Claire revealed: “I was shocked and devastated when I was diagnosed with arthritis at 30.

“You presume it’s an older person’s disease. Nowadays, I have had to give up bombing round on a race horse at 40 miles an hour but I still go for a hack.

“It doesn’t hold me back, it’s manageable. You’ve just got to get on with it.”

Explaining her worries for the future living with this condition, Claire said: “I worry about my health deteriorating. It scares me.”

“It feels like my whole body is falling apart. I have elderly parents and they’ve got problems too, so I want to be around to help them.

“I don’t want to be a helpless old woman who can’t do anything for anyone because all my joints are falling apart.

“That’s what motivates me to look after my health.” Joint pain can be caused by injury affecting any of the ligaments or tendons surrounding the joint.

“Pain is also a feature of joint inflammation such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Claire’s fear and worries for her future

The Emmerdale star has feared the painful, chronic disease would leave her wheelchair-bound when she was first diagnosed.

The actress was told about her condition after going to the doctors with throbbing and painful fingers.

A blood test later revealed and confirmed her condition of rheumatoid arthritis.

Thankfully with exercise, supplements and eating healthily, Claire has managed to keep the symptoms minimal and manageable.

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How she deals with her conditon

“It’s been a painful battle for the last 25 years really,” Claire said. Arthritis is a common condition that causes pain and inflammation in a person’s joint.

While symptoms can be debilitating, Claire has been pro-active in finding ways to help her condition.

She explained: “We’ve got this very British stiff upper lip attitude to it and say, ‘Oh I’ve got this pain and I can’t do anything about it’.

“I have a magnet stick. The world’s one big magnet, everything revolves around magnets.

“A friend of mine gave me some of this jewellery about a year ago and said try this for a couple of weeks and see if it works and I thought, ‘Yeah, another one these fancy things’.

“It really does help.” The star even claimed she stopped taking prescribed medication after the success of the alternative treatment.

She said: “I have self medicated myself off one of my serious prescribed drugs. It can be a downward spiral.

“If you start taking other drugs you get side effects and then you get drugs for that.”

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