I have been reading this forum for about a week now. All of you seem like truly wonderful, caring, and tough people! I was recently diagnosed with "smoldering RA". Although I'm not certain what that means, I'm sure when I go for my follow up with my Rheumatologist he will explain it all to me. I had MRIs done of my hands and wrists and after that the Dr had to leave for awhile, and hopefully he will be back by my Oct 9th appointment.
My GP was the one that read the results which said there was no damage in my hands and wrists, but said he was comfortable with starting me on Metotrexate (?) he has been amazingly supportive.
I have pain in my wrists and hands pretty much all of the time, but I haven't experienced nearly what most of the people in this forum have. I have learned a great deal in here and I'm really glad I found this forum! What a great place!
Cathy
Well welcome to the club! Not the best club on earth to be welcomed to I guess, but damnit if you can't help it anyway. LoL I'm new....ish. But it seems like a pretty slammin place. Just a heads up, I'm not really all there...so don't be put off by any of my comments. I just try to see the humor in things. MRIS ARE FUN. LoL At least mine was...my doc played A Perfect Circle CD the whole time. I could lick Maynard James Keane's feet if he asked me to. Haha You're lucky to not have any damage yet...try to keep it that way! You'll be better off in the long run. I'm going to be like my mother was...I'd be very inquisitive as to why they want you on methotrexate. My mom was SOOO anti metho when I was younger. I STILL haven't been on anything that strong, and for the most part, I do pretty well. I dunno. In my opinion its one of those things, when you're diagnosed with a disease that has varing levels, you want to make sure you're treating the level that YOU are on. I suppose your doc knows more than I do (haha, I KNOW he does) But I would still be an annoying little question asker if it was me. Whatever you do, be pro-active. It's your body and only you can judge if what they're doing is right. :) And well....stick around. Post some stuff, let us know whats new :)
KT
Hi,
Thanks for the welcome! I am going to wait until my Rheumatologist comes back before I start anything like that. I trust my GP, but he sent me to a rheumatologist because he thought thats where I needed to be. So, no DMARDS until I hear it from the expert.
I'm currently on prednisone 10mg and voltaren 100mg once a day and vicodin for when it's really bad. I've been dealing with this on and off for a few years, and another month isn't going to make that much difference.
I think it's great that you have a sense of humor! It sure doesn't hurt to be able to laugh.
I have a frightening sense of humor...lol Blame my b/f. I was a wallflower before I met him. Judging by the vicodin and pred. I may have spoke too soon about the metho. Perhaps it is what you need. Either way, let your rhumey be the judge of it! I'm a stubborn mule and refuse anything but OTC stuff right now. You'd think I was 80 the way I behave. Oh well. I'm creeping towards other things....but without insurance I'm dancing a dangerous limbo. Whheeeee dancing. haha I'd love to dance...How hard on my knees do you think ballroom dancing would be? My b/f wants to try and I think it'd be great, I just don't want to suffer through it. LoL Anyway...
KT
Try it (ball room dancing). Make sure you wear good shoes. Athletic shoes with suede glued to bottom worked for me. You don't have to wear painful heels to dance! I had a couple of pairs of dance heels (1.5 inches) that I could wear for a bit (once upon a time).
Dancing is not much harder than walking is on knees. Try the waltz first...
Have fun!
Great! Now the only thing I'm worried about is the cost of the classes. LOL There's an awesome little place downtown, where you can watch them learn through the window, and every time we pass it we both go "awww I wanna dance..." I also saw a program last night about a lady who taught belly dancing. My back is pretty good still and it looked like that was about all you had to use....anyone tried that before? It looked like so much FUN!Welcome aboard Cathy, I am also new and new to RA as well. Scuse the pun but its a pain!! But here you can get help, support and a laugh. Wendy