Affected by rheumatoid arthritis

my fingers are not quite controllable and i forever either don’t hit the caps key when i should or hit it when i shouldn’t! LOL . i didn’t know what the ‘ratings’ are either, so i asked Rheumie Thursday’s visit and he said not to worry about it, it was just a test to see [...]

I am 36 yrs old and am seeing several dr to try to get a final dx of RA. I am almost positive that is what I have since I have all of the sx, but negative labs. I am wanting another baby and have done research about this. Most of the stuff I read [...]

Yeah, I heard about some of the side effects of prednisone today  actually. I need to talk to my dr…I think that I am supposed to  finish this course, and then just use it for flare ups. (?) But I am  not too sure. Does the Plaquenil help the pain? I hate to sound like  [...]

and a couple of months later it was 608. That plus physical examinations was plenty to confirm RA so it hasn’t been done since. It can vary either up or down and is not a good measure of RA, but nothing else is either. In fact, about 20 percent of people with RA never have positive blood tests. That’s [...]

other stuff (methotrexate, plaquenil, prednisone, cyclosporine) before my doctor finally tried Enbrel. I spent 3 months on that before switching to Humira, which seems to be more effective for me. I have been on Humira since last April. As one of the other posters said, I think that they do put you on strong drugs [...]

I like you already! Thank you for your input. I appreciate your response very much. It is just such a lifechanging thing, I cannot quite wrap my mind around it yet. I am 25, and you know, you never think these things will happen to you. I wont see a rheumatologist until march, but so [...]

Thank you for your reply. I am so curious as to the drugs I will be  put on…seems like March is a long time away.    Yeah, I will check out that other board…As far as professional  opinions go, I just did the registration. I’m not a nurse or anything.  I just did the paperwork.    Thank [...]

The information was very helpful. I  discovered that The Arthritis Foundation also has some good  information on its website (sections on insurance and financial  planning).    I’m actually feeling quite good–Vioxx and Plaquenil have brought my  symptoms down to a mere whisper. I’m grateful to have found a  rheumatologist I trust. And I have a good [...]

it is a bit scary! in a way, i was lucky. i suspition for a long time that it was my problem but none of the GP’s seemed to think so. I finally after a huge painful flare called a Rheumie and the tests showed positive, even though he was in doubts as i had [...]

I’ve had RA for a little over two years, started on Arava and then added Methotrexate when Arava alone didn’t work. I read some bad things about Arava and took myself off it (probably a mistake). Methotrexate alone didn’t work so we added Remicade at 3 mg/kg, then to 5 mg/kg and now at 6 mg/kg. The Remicade [...]