Rox, Love your Einstein qt.!
I understand your comment, "the doctors here (whom I love) have run out of answers."
It is often hard to get your docs to help with hormones, but I think it's worth it. Hope you get some help from a new doc soon. I wish you well!
A healthy family friend went on HRT in her 50s. RA deformed her hands almost overnight - and her docs had her on all sorts of strong meds -- cort., mtx, nsaids, tnfs. Another woman I know was one of the 1st to take HRT in the 1960s or 70s and she got breast cancer not long after.
I believe my own RA sympts (diffuse jt. swelling & muscle pain) were triggered by puberty, but I had weird collagen-related issues in the years before my RA dx (frequent tendinitis, migraines, sudden severe myopia, skin rashes, wt. gain). THose sympts. began after I started taking lots of aspartame-containing products in 1983. I believe aspart. triggered early puberty and some hormone imbalance and the rest is history.
Also after '83, I had a skin rash triggered by sun & chlorine for 20 yrs. It went away when I used topical progesterone cream. Pretty amazing relief.
(1983 is the same time my mom's muscle pain & rapid wt gain, flushing and thyroid-like sympts started.)
I used to use topical progesterone for my hot flashes. It really helped. I have considered using it again but these hot flashes I think are from pain meds and pred. I get more of them if I up the usage of these drugs.
I think anything that has a strong effect on the immune system can throw it "out of kilter" ie - auto-immune disease. I had a hysterectomy, I started having unexplainable body pain, my daughter was diagnosed schizophrenic - could not walk, skeleton feet, and the last straw was a root canal from hell, the nerve just would not die. That is when I ended up hospitalized. ( We all must have memories of before taking a test or stressful interview or whatever, we got sick.) Stress has always messed with my body and I am a bit type A. Always want to be moving forward, accomplishing something. I miss my "good addiction" - exercise. Great stress reliever. RA and my lack of exercise has really made it difficult with my personality not to be stressed, depressed - then flaring. The root canal also releases a lot of bacteria and was physically challenging. Last straw - RA kicked in big time. I also believe chemicals will cause a flare. If I eat healthy, I am healthier. I never use the fake sweeteners as I have read many times they are toxic to the body.
I think we are on the same page Spirit. Problem is I have not been practicing what I believe. I have set myself up for stress and illness and am now suffering the consequences. Will I ever learn????????
In school, I once said, "If we could do it all over again ..." and a teacher of mine replied, "we'd probably do it the same way." Yikes! Hope that's not true.
As a fellow "go-go-go" person who was very athletic, I miss daily exercise something fierce. Such a vicious cycle, and, yes, so depressing.
Do sthg. you enjoy today that has NOTHING to do with your RA!
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