When my ob-gyn nurse learned that I add RA, her comment
was "oh no way, you are too young." I didn't really appreciate
that. Made me aware that my body is giving out earlier than it
should. I just turned 30. If you don't mind saying, could you
please tell me what age you were diagnosed? Also, I have 19
month old daughter but hope to have more, will having RA
hinder that or make it more difficult to get pregnant? And what
kind of problems may I run into? Thanks for your help.
lilly, so sorry about your diagnosis. i was diagnosed at 29...and i felt happy it didn't start any earlier. it's a complete misconception that ra is an "old" persons disease.
i don't have any advice for pregnancy. my son was 4 when i was diagnosed. i know you will find out for yourself, already being a parent and now having ra, how much energy the simple day to day routine of caring for your daughter can take.
one thing about ra; it makes you stay true to the meaningful things in life. there's no time or energy left for anything else! ha ha.
best wishes
Lilly,I was 22 when I was officailly dx'ed. OA is the type of Arthritis that is caused by old age and wear and tear. Often even nurses don't seem to recognize the difference. I always just smile and say; "You're right about that".
At age 33 I started showing signs of early menopause. I'll be 35 in January and I haven't had a period in over a year now. They say that it's one of two things. A: RA itself or B: The medications I've used to control it all these years. I don't want to discourage anyone from taking their meds but I would be especially cautious of MTX. It's been the most effective medication I've been on all these years, but I also feel that it may have caused problems some of you younger women would not want during your child bareing years.
Luckily for me I had two children early and had no intentions of having anymore...but had that not been the case I think I would have been upset that I was never warned that this could happen. I'd advise discussing it with your doctor for certain.
It is sad that there are nurses that don't know that much about arthritis and the difference in them but what is even sadder is the Dr's that don't recognize RA and blow you off as a " pain med seeker" or a "whiner", and my favorite one, "You are just fat".
Lesle
or "It's just stress"
I was dx at age 8 (JRA)-25 now I was 34 6 months after i got married. i am now 51Guess I was lucky. Got RA at 58 and am now 60. But doing okay now with the meds.
Susan
Hi,
I was 60 when symptoms started. I was not diagnosed until a year later. I am on Plaquenil and doing better. Still some mild joint pains in the hands and knees with the ocassional dreaded flare.
Tmir/Barbara
Hi there my name is Dawn and I am 27 now I was diagnosed with RA when I turned 25. At first they thought that I had fallen arches and they gave my special insoles for my shoes because I am a waitress. As the months went bye I was in more and more pain and it seemed to spread my primary doc told me it was because I was over wieght and that I needed to stop smoking. Then I guess I had a bad flare up where I could not walk and went to another doc and that is when they found it.At first it was so hard because my son loved to go to the park and have me chase him but then I had to explain to him mommy dont feel good and that broke my heart.I started my first treatment of Remicade yesterday and so far so good.Thanks for listening HAPPY THANKSGIVING Sorry about your RA. I was 51, recently divorced and devastated when I was diaged. I could barely climb the stairs before taking prednisone. I was in constant pain for 2 yeasr on methotrexate, celabrex,& pred. when I started Remicade 3 years ago I was able to get off pred & cel and cut the meth in half AND I AM ALMOST PAIN FREE!!!!!!!!! I was strong enuf to waterski last summer! WOWStarted at 17, diagnosed at 18. College was terrible because everything was flares, fatigue and swollen joints. I definitely didn't have the "college experience" - I was too busy sleeping or limping through it!
Now that I'm 22, most of the RA is under control through the meds (thank God!) but I just had my first surgery and I can't help looking at my 30-something coworkers when they go out and do things and think that it's not quite fair.
I was diagnosed at age 21. To the opening poster- Maybe the nurse was just trying to make small talk, try and make you feel better or try and show that she cared and was concered when she mentioned you were young for RA. Hi there. Age doesn't matter, I was diagnosed at 26 years old. It has been 3 years now. I just had my first baby 8 months ago and the remission was great during the last 5 months of pregnancy!![QUOTE=kerryv1976]Hi there. Age doesn't matter, I was diagnosed at 26 years old. It has been 3 years now. I just had my first baby 8 months ago and the remission was great during the last 5 months of pregnancy!![/QUOTE]
Kerry, you should post in the thread where NYALI wanted to know about arthritis and infertility.
http://www.arthritisinsight.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19 75&PN=1
Hi! I found out I had Ra. in Oct. 2002. Right now I am on some good meds, which is helping most of the time. Take Care Everybody! PaulI was diagnosed at 22. I'm now 23, and I'm on a trial IV drug calledSusan
I was DX'd in 2003 at the ripe old age of 33yrs old.
Yet... I had symptoms since my mid teens...14 or 15...then no problems and I had a REALLY REALLY bad flare up in 1996 hosptialized for 2 1/2 weeks. Still didn't know what I had.
Then in Dec 2002 I began to have symptoms...couldn't walk...hands, feet and knees were the worst. In May of 2003 I was Dx'd...have had up's and downs...but I am here only by the Lord's Grace and Mercy.
My Pregancies were bad...my RHEUMY believes I had the early stages of Lupus then and no one knew it...BUT, After my boys were delivered...My sickness went away...I am still borderline for Lupus...but the RA has been the leading PAIN in my life right now...LOL
Roblyn I am new to this board and to RA (about a year). I am 67, way, way too old to be newly diagnosed. It amazes me that most people, even nurses, don't know that rheumatoid arthritis is a totally different disease than old age or "osteoarthritis." It's an immune system disorder, having nothing to do with old joints. Rheumatoid arthritis usually begins in the 30-50 age group, although it can hit younger and older (obviously). So the nurse is dead wrong saying you are too young for RA, you are right in the most vulnerable category. Best of luck with your treatment. I hope you have a mild course. Waddles, RE doctor being surprised: Another way of looking at it is that you possibly lived a healthier life than most other 58 year-olds. My guess is that a strep or staph infection or other immunological disease trips the switch that launches the RA. So just maybe you were the lucky one and didn't suffer any of these problems until late in life. Hello emillonig, Nice to meet you...Welcome to AI. I am 61 and I don't think there is a different way they treat our RA because of being older and as far as the way it effects us. I am not sure there's any difference either. I was put on Naprosyn, at first, that didn't work so my RD added Prednisone, boy did that work..LOL. I loved it but as time went on I realized I was getting a little plumper around the midriff and my size 12/14's where feeling a little on the tight side but I have to admit for awhile I felt almost normal. I asked to come off the Prednisone. Prednisone is a great tool for helping to control the pain, inflamation of RA but if we use it for to long of a time, we may end up having some health issues with it. The RD put me on Methotrexate and Vioxx. That worked very well, till they removed Vioxx and Bextra from the market. Other drugs had to be tried out till we could find the one's that worked well with my RA. I am sure your RD will be doing the same with you as time goes on. I wish you well with your RA and anytime you need some questions answered, post them here and someone will try to answer them for you. Take care of yourself and I am looking foward to reading your post. Toni Hello Susan, I think your username is absolutely appropo for this month...LOL. I am glad to hear someone with the attitude that "all is not lost"...Thank You. From the time I was DX'd till now, I have had a lot of ups and a lot of downs with RA and like you I too was devastated. As I started to research auto Immune diseases, RA in particular, I could see that good things where around the corner for us RA' ers not to forget the Auto Immune folks either. We have come a long way in a very short decade with more ways to help control the RA than in past decades. So it stands to reason that more medications to lower the inflammation, pain and deformities from RA are around the corner for us. It has been mentioned here on this forum and in other article's I have read. "that if we have to suffer from RA, this is the best time to have RA"... We just have to keep the faith, that we soon will have medications that will completely control all auto immune diseases and RA, if not a cure for it. Keep on keeping the faith Susan, I am right behind you. Toni Hello All, I was diagnosed 6 years ago with RA; however, the pain and stiffness started about 4 years before that...and I can recall joint pain even before that. When I would sit in the bleachers to watch my kids on the football field with the marching band in the cold months, I would not be able to step down afterwards. My knees felt fused and very achy. Meds are wonderful! I am on 20 mg of MTX, Plaquenil, Relafen, Evoxac, Fosamax and Folic Acid. Am "seronegative" RA with Sjogren's/Osteopenia. Nice to be back here after being gone for a few months.
Pam Diagnosed at 25 - my doc said the average age for RA diagnoses is between 27 - 35. I was an early bloomer. I got my period when I was 10 - my boobs when I was 11 - and my RA when I was 25.
LMAO Woobie
I was diagnosed last summer in 2005 at age 58 with Psoriatic Arthritis. When I think back now I believe there were many warning signs but who knew??? My aches and pains always went away. And I was healthy. And then it came on like a freight train during 2004 until diagnosed in 2005. Enbrel has been my means of having good days now.
RozBuds Best wishes and good luck in the future, Moonie x
knew nothing about RA. Since then I must have put at least a thousand
hours into research, reading, and trying to do the best that I can with
what I've been delt. I've not worked since my diagnosis but I thank God
every day that so far things are not nearly as bad as they coud be. I'm on
Methotrexate and Enbrel and while I'm no where near where I used to be,
my rheumatologist still tells me I will get better. I've become proactive
with my treatment and contiune to monitor all the drugs that are in the
pipeline (clinical trials). I believe there is hope for all of us as long as we
can maintain at this point in time until better treatments become
available. Best wishes to us all!
Susan I was just diagnosed at age 66. I'm starting prednisone now. Are there any other older women newly diagnosed? I've heard our symptoms and course of treatment differ from those of the younger patients.I was diagnosed at 49 May 2005. I think I had my first flare five years earlier and went into remission. Sept. 2004 hospitalized for major flare, then diagnosed in May. What a roller coaster ride eh?I was diagnosed at 46. But I feel your anguish. I went through menopause at the early age of 40 and was told the same thing, about being so young. Now with RA too I really feel that I'm aging way too fast. We are just in the minority who get things early i guess.
I was 58 and told they where surprised that I had RA because I was older than the normal age for an RA dx In fact my primary care doctor didn't even look at the blood test results that showed I had the RA+ factor nine months prior to my cancer nurse manager seeing it and mentioned it to me, at which time she put in the order for more lab work to be done and to see a Rheumatolgist....LOL. From start to finish it took almost a year to figure out what was going on with me.
RA doesn't care about how young or how old you are...and the doctors have seen enough RA patients to not make the statement "they are surprised that we have RA because of our age". That is a conjecture they need to get rid of.
Toni
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