Hello, I've been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis this year, although I had an attack several years ago. Just took them a long time to get it diagnosed. Well, both my attacks came on when i was off my progesterone injection, Depo Provera. I have gone onto the injection 2 months ago, and the symptoms just completely dissappeared in a matter of days. It was amazing and seemed to surprise the specialist. I'm hoping it has bought me some more years without heavy mediction. Has anyone had any similar experiences with Progesterone injections? We are toying with having a baby, but I am currently too terrified of the pain to come off the hormones. Any ideas? I ahve been reading about the hormone link and RA, does anyone have any other research on this topic. Thanks for reading all this, NataschaWell I don't know anything about a story like yours, HOWEVER, if it makes you any less worried to try for kids, *most* women go into remission while they are pregnant. And from your story, it sounds like you would be one of those women. Hopefully someone with more info will pop in!! Good luck!
Thanks for the reply. I've read that pregnancy should be fine, it's the hormone drop after birth that I'm worried about. What i would love to know is if anyone has had a baby, breastfed and then gone back to Progesterone, without another flare. Breastfeeding is good for baby, but apparrently bad for RA? NataschaHmmmm I haven't heard much about that. How long do you have to wait before going back on the progesterone? I know breastfeeding IS best, but you have to take into consideration YOUR health as well as the baby's. Would you really be any good to your baby in a terrible flare? There are a lot of new, and very good formulas out there. I think it would be something to talk to your RD and OBGYN about, they can really help you decide further.
Hey Natascha....I don't think I've seen you here. Just wanted to say hello
The diagnosis of RA was a bit of a shock (understatement of the year!!!) and I'm still not a hundret percent with it, although the Nurse and the Specialist assure me that I have all the relevant blood test levels and that it will get worse and my outlook is medium to poor! Who trains these people in crushing patients hopes?! Anyway, I have been reading a lot about the relevance of hormones in RA, hence the increasing problems after pregnancy and the menopause. It is just that I seem to have a really good thing going with the Progesterone injection and wondered if others have any experience with it? My consultant looked at me like a fish in a bowl when I mentioned it to him, so no luck there. I'll make some more enquires and will post them if/when i find them. Seems like there are some serious studies going on at the moment into the hormone link. Well as far as I'm concerned, if it works for ya it works for ya!!!!!! Don't stop!!!! lol
Hey there!
Me and my future Nobel Prize winning buddy Steph are probably going to concentrate our studies on the hormone link especially since the area of Fizziology has been taken. (sorry Natasha - running joke). Anyway - yes, I'm astounded at the hormone link to all this. And there was a post about this a bit ago? Anybody remember what/when it was?
Since I/we're just starting our research, I'd love to see whatever you've got. You can just PM me - or - post it here. We are a learning group here!
Pip
Great Pip!! Thanks for that. I'm convinced that there is a link between hormones and RA, there must be as it gets worse with menopause and after pregnancy! Especially Oestrogens. Now what the H***l is Fizziology???? That one went straight over my head. I'm rubbish at forums as this is my first one, so excuse the ignorance, but what is PM? I've read some research by several researches including Carolin Gordon and will try and e-mail them reg. this. Let me know if you find any more info. Natascha. Natascha, are you saying estrogen help RA or makes it worse? just started taking estrogen myself.Natascha- welcome aboard. I am also a great believer in the hormone RA thing especialy as my RA gets a heck of a lot worse at that time of the month and I had no symptoms during pregnancy.
I didnt breastfeed my youngest daughter as i had problems not RA related but i did breastfeed my other two and had no problems but if i had i would have stopped and bottle fed.
I dont like your doctors attitude , telling you that it will get worse and the outlook is so bad. It might get worse than it is, it could stay the same, you could go into remission and not get symtoms for a long time.This disease is never quite that black and white. My old rheumy basically told me there was nothing else he could do for me, so i changed doctors and this new rheumatologist is doing a lot more.
Hope to see you posting lots more.
Where in UK are you from?
Take care
Lisa
Natasha -
When you read a post - like this one from me - at the bottom of what they wrote are a bunch of buttons. If you hit the PM button a new window pops up with the person who posted's name in the :TO space. It goes only to them.
Frizziology is a joke here. This board has a few people that use antibiotics to control our RA. There is a epsom salts/hydrogen peroxide bath that people do to reduce a flare. An APer (antibiotic protocol person) tried the bath and fizzed. Other APer's fizzed too so we thought it was the Minocin (type of antibiotic). A non-APer tried the bath and did not fizz. Since the Nobel Prize in Medicine does not have to go to a scientist - we're going too enter our research! LOL Hey, a girl's got to dream!
Seriously, hang out here, ask questions and post anything (or PM) any cool research you come across. It's amazing but a lot of this stuff can help others. And like you, I am beginning to believe the thyroid is an important key to all this.
Hugs,
Pip