Welcome, Gale | Arthritis Information

I had many of the same problems and frustrations  you have had  before getting an accurate diagnosis from a Rheumatologist.  I am a 50 year old female diagnosed with RA and fibromyalgia two years ago.  You will truly enjoy the people on the message board.  I just discovered them about a week ago and they have already helped me so much!  Not many people understand our disease and you will find so much support here.   I am a divorced mom with two kids, ages 9 and one 22 in her last year of college.  I am surrently taking Sulfasalazine 2000mg day, Lotrin 400 mg, 2x's daily, Tramadol for pain, INH for TB exposure, Prozac 40 mg daily for depression.  I am just now recovering from a really bad flare and had to take the Prednisone pack and have missed two weeks of work.  My health has gone so downhill the last two years that I am worried that I may disabled at some point in the future.  I deal with pain and cronic fatigue daily.  Today was the first day in almost two weeks that I felt like doing things around the house and cooking again!  I'm grateful and just hope it lasts!  I am so behind at work.

You certainly have a plate full of bad stuff that's happened to you.  I can very well understand the diagnosis nightmare as I had my disease nearly 10 years before I was given a diagnosis.  I also have thought of writing very "special" letters to docs that blew me off in the early stages of my disease process.  I decided nothing good would come of it. You were wise to change rheumys.

I come from a family of inflammatory arthritis sufferers.  My mother, her three sisters and my grandfather also had this crud in one form or another.  We have a strong history of JRA, RA, Lupus and all the other itises that seem to be there.  There is good news though!  Because of the suffering of our parents and grandparents, science has come a long way to address the concerns and treatments of these diseases.  Our chances are way better than the previous generation of finding a drug that will actually help us. Breakthroughs are happening everyday in the treatment of these diseases.  We've got to remain strong of faith and keep our eyes open for the latest studies that are out there.  We'll beat this thing one day -- really, we will. 

Hugs,

Janis

Welcome Gale.  I'm glad to meet you, though sorry it's under these conditions.  You will find a great deal of compassion and caring here, along with lots of helpful information.

I'm a 45 year old single mom, with 14-yr-old twin girls.  I was diagnosed with RA and Fibromyalgia 6 years ago.  I come from a long line of "itises" as well.  My grandmother died from RA when I was 2 years old.  It had attacked her organs as well as her joints, which is something that scares me.  But like Janis said, there's alot more knowledge and treatment options for me than there were for my grandmother, so I'm hopeful.

Take care.

Cris

Hi Gale, and welcome

You've certainly had a rough time of it. Good to see you handled that Doc the right way, nothing worse than an arrogant doc. I, too, come from a long line of autuimmune sufferers. Brother with RA, sister with Crohns, Uncle with Gout and an aunt with Lupus. On the bright side, even in the last 3 years, there has been so much change in how RA is treated, with so many new drugs coming on the market.

Hopefully you will find a treatment thatll suit you very soon

And once again, welcome.