hi. im new. living w/ someone with RA | Arthritis Information

im tom. my wife has had RA for about 7 years now. she actually got it the same time i met her. i feel i dont know enough about RA to be the best husband i can be. my wife is such a strong person that she will never admit that she's in pain or ask for help. she's been on meds for a long time now and hadnt felt pain for a number of years. but recently, she's been coming off of (enbrel/metho) so that we can have kids soon. but as the doses get lower and lower, she's feeling worse and worse.

i just found this forum and i want to learn as much as i can and to contribure my experiences as well. there's so much to read i dont know where to begin.

thanks for listening/reading.

best regards,

tom

Hi Tom,

As far as not knowing what to expect, you and I are in the same boat! I was just diagnosed with aggressive, severe RA and I just have no idea what tomorrow will bring.

This board seems to have some really nice people with great info to share, so I'll be doing alot of reading. I've done tons of research, but I find it easier to relate to folks who are actually going thru RA.

Good luck to you and your wife! See you around on the boards.

Ezzi

Hi Tom,

I have had PA for 21 years (am 37) and have given birth to 2 healthy children. I made the decision to stay on Enbrel while pregnant based on the fact that I could barely walk when I gave up my meds. My OB/GYN in NYC gave me the okay to stay on it for the first pregnancy and I chose to stay on it myself for the 2nd pregnancy even though my rheumy strongly advised me against it. He wanted me to take Prednisone on a very slowly declining dose through the pregnancy. I tried that for a few weeks but when I was having to get up at 4am just to be able to be limber enough to lift my then 18 month old daughter out of bed at 7am, I felt it was just not worth the pain. Having already been through one pregnancy and nursed my daughter for 6 months all while taking Enbrel, I felt it was an informed decision.

Anyway you'll make the decision yourself based on all the information you'll get. However, I would suggest maybe that your wife try staying on Enbrel at least until she's pregnant. I gave up my meds for a few months before trying to get pregnant the first time around but was in so much agony that I couldn't relax and enjoy the 'trying to get pregnant' part with my husband. I felt that I would never get pregnant unless I was in the right frame of mind and that was why I decided to stay on it. Also, I did get some amount of relief during the pregnancy and your wife might be lucky in that too.

Please feel free to ask any questions but I warn you that with my two crazy girls, it may take me a few days to respond.

Take care and best of luck to you both.

thank you so much for your response joanne.

my wife is very paranoid and i dont know if she will go for staying on meds during pregnancy.

we'll soon find out as she just stopped her metho all together this week! yikes! im very scared for her as she is showing symptoms we havent seen for years (swelling, aches).

as for your symptom relief during pregnancy, how much did your pain improve? we are just praying that she will be one of those people who go into complete remission during pregnancy. one can only hope.

it such a scary and exciting time for us.

best regards,

tom