I have been coming here for a long time. I am nearly 50 years old and have had RA all my life. I have over 23 surgeries attached to my name in my medical file along with a ridiculously long string of medications that I have tried, been allergic to, or have worked then stopped working.
I am not a DR. BUT, and I say again, BUT, I have researched this RA extensively and even took extra time away from my studies in college and took advantage of being able to use a college library to delve into all the "stuff" of RA. WHat I learned is that not all treatments work for all people, it is a darned difficult disease to dx,it is a complicated disease, and the meds are extremely expensive due to all the research that I am thankful that was done on this disease.
When I was dx in 1991, there was no cure, there were no, I mean NO biolics at the time and nobody was researching RA. Since then science has made leaps and bounds in research and probablitiles of a better life for those with RA, including fibro and osteo. In 1991, a pain clinic was not even mentioned, on the map or otherwise available. In 1991 there was little to no help as far as message boards or support groups. THere were fewer RD's then there are presently. Those of you that have just been dx have no idea of the limitations that we faced at that time. I am ever so thankful for the medicines even though they are expensive. I am thankful that each RD has a background and education in the biolics that once never existed. I am thankful that new tests and new approaches have been made through all these years to make our lives easier and possibly better.
WHen I look at these posts so many of the same questions I had initially are all here and I did not have the ease of going online to ask the question, nope, I not only had to pay a babysitter but take my precious energy and time form college to research it all on my own then take the results to my RD who BTW: also teaches future RD's. We talked, we problem solved and we came up with workable solutions because WE HAD TO!
SO, if a few posts are off topic and we hear about somebody's really bad bone day or if their dog dies, we care. WHy do we care? Because there was a time when these message boards did not exist and I for one spent many a night crying myself to sleep because there were no meds that worked, because I hurt beyond belief and nobody understood but my RD and he was not available to lend a kind word or a shoulder to lean on. THIS IS WHY THE MESSAGE BOARDS HELP!!!
jode
The board is okay, the biologics are great. I am not demeaning this forum. I think it is the best, just my opinion. It's just that this board does't help me anywhere near what pred, mtx and enbrel do. I have good funtion. Anyone remember this song, "Conjunction junction, what's your function?" I spent so much time looking for answers. I finally gave up. If the pros don't know, i probably won't stumble on it. If i do, i promise to share it with everyone for free. I promise.
LEV
Jode,
I totally agree with you. I think the RA keeps a lot of us feeling isolated. I do not work anymore and do not go out very much either. The board is a wonderful place for us to communicate with others that are going through some of the same things. We need to talk about things unmedically related sometimes, we need the friends we have on this board. It should be a nice safe place to talk about our joys and sorrows!!!!!
Karen