Hi!

[MNmom]

I am looking for a board to talk to other people with RA and found this through google...

My name is Heather. I am 34 years old and live in MN with my husband, 2 children and 2 dogs. Last Spring, I started suffering from joint pain, stiffness, and weakness and began my long struggle with this nasty disease.

[loneil]

Hello Heather,
Are you being treated? What are you taking and how is it working? As you can see I am looking for as much information as I can get. How old are your children? Mine are 33 and 30 and are living their own lives. Hopefully more people will start seeing this forum and we all can learn together what we can do or what we are doing to help.

[MNmom]

is this a new board? My kids are 1 and 4... Adrienne and Cody. Yes, I am being treated - I posted on another thread about it... I take 600mg Plaquenil and 5 mg Prednisone each day and 100,000mg of Vitamin D each week. The Plaquenil is not working for me and I have an pt on Tuesday - I suspect she will change it finally. I have been on it about 9 months. The Prednisone used to keep it under control but it doesn't anymore. My feet and hands are the worst.

[loneil]

I just replied to your other posts. Sorry this stuff is new to me. Yes this is a new forum. Actually my son put it up because he felt that I needed to talk to other people about what I have been having to endure! I am sorry for you I know exactly how you feel. It has to be really hard with 2 children and at the ages they are. You are taking more plaquenil than I am but that is because I started methetrexate. I really don't recommend it to anyone. I get soo sick with it. It is a chemo therapy drug used to treat forms of cancer but they found out it helps RA. I go back to my dr. in 2 weeks to see if the increase in methetrexate has helped. They have other meds that you inject that are really better but I can't afford them even with insurance they run about $800 per month. As I said in my other post... diet does help. I am also seeing a homeopathic dr for my fibromyalgia and she really has helped even with the RA. She has RA and has a diet plan that I am following now along with large doses of vitamins and minerals. I do hope your dr can find some help for you.

[jon]

Hey welcome to the new forum MNmom!

[MNmom]

thanks! I really like the format of this board so I hope more people find it and join us! I found another board that is moms with RA but the format is confusing!

[kmoneil]

Welcome to the forum! Glade you like it, sometimes it take a little while for forums to get going. I hope more people come also!

[purple]

Hi MNmom

I also have two children 10, and 12. I have been on Plaquenil for a year now. It has taken some of the heat and inflammation out of my joints but that may be from the Celebrex 2 times a day. I don't feel that it is working as well as I would like it to. But I wonder how much is the medicine going to work on every day fatigue and joint pain. Some days are better than others. I wish that the doctors could really tell you how it is going to be on a daily basis. That way I could gauge my "days" better. Each one seems to be different.

Lachele

[SHAN77]

Hello! Like you I went looking for a site just to talk, and listen to other people that are dealing with this disease. I am 30 years old and was diagnosed on Feb 1, 2008. Since then I have done methotrexate, doxycycline, folic acid, lortab, and heavy iodine supplements. I have been a nurse for 10 years and at first had no idea what was going on. I got sick with heavy cold/flu like symptoms in Nov. 2007, and popped up a pleural effusion (fluid between your lung and pleural lining) in each lung. The pain hit me like a freight train. My primary ran some labs and sent me to a rheumy when my sed rate, crp, and ra factor all came back positive/elevated. My appointment was Feb 1, and he ran some more tests and did a complete physical. By this time I could barely move. I have 3 children, my oldest is 8, and my identical twins are 7, (all boys) and the diagnosis was devastating. No it is not terminal cancer, but it is painful, exhausting, and dangerous still. I have just recently gone back to work, and people will ask me why I am losing weight so rapidly, and why I limp. When I tell them its because I have RA, and my hips, knees, and ankles hurt, they say "OH" and shrug it off. If you told them you had a different disease they would be immediately understanding. Anyway, I am sorry to crab a little, I just get frustrated. One day at a time is my creed. Everyday is a struggle to do the little things that most people take for granted. Being too exhausted to even make dr. appt's, PTA meetings, little league, things like that. Hurting too bad to take a walk and keep up with your family, or to take a bike ride. limping when you get up from a chair, or some days all of the time, hitting the wrong buttons while typng this because your fingers are a little bit clumsy and hard to control, laying on the floor with tears running down your face as your young sons press on your hips to try and keep them flexible and help with the pain, sitting in the bathtub for an hour, just to loosen everything up enough to move, being asked what you want for Mother's day and replying, without thinking about it, "one day without pain." Thank you for listening, I am sorry that I rambled on and on, and I would like to send good wishes out to everyone else who is, and has been dealing with this. We are not alone.

[purple]

Dear fellow suffers,

There is some mental satisfaction knowing that you are not alone in
what you are going through. I hate that each of us is in pain none of us want that but knowing that you are not alone helps.
I really started realizing that something was "wrong" a few years ago but my sed rates are always negative. Finally when
I couldn't hold a coffee mug much less sign a check I got someone to refer me to a Rheumy. My general dr. kept telling me when I would go in for joint pain or not being able to lift my arm from shoulder pain it must be in my head and refered me to a Phyc. dr. Luck for me my neighbor is an Orthopedic and he said this isn't right.


It is flusterating hurting and others just shrugging and tossing
it up to "arthritis" that everyone eventally gets.

I have wondered at times what happens to my typing skills when one day I can hit the right keys and then other times
I hit Backspace more than the other keys.

Are any of you having stomach pain due to taking Celebrex?
I am getting them quite regularily. If I don't take it well
what do you think no stomach ache. I hope I don't start hurting worse. I took a Darvocet the other night and hurt
worse from the stomach than arthritis. I can't take Tylenol because of elevated liver enzyems.

It may not seem like it from this post but today has been a good day.

May GOD BLESS all of you and be well......
Lachele

[loneil]

Welcome to the forum, Shan77,
I think you will find that everyone here knows exactly what you are going through. I hope with all my heart that you will have one day without pain one day, I pray that we all will. Until then feel free to ramble on all you want--- we do! Hope your days get better. I will be thinking of you. Linda