Hello...My name is Jane and I found out on my 43rd Birthday that I have RA and Osto.
My arms, hands, shoulders, and feet are the worst right know. The pain and lack of engery is the worst! I am on Prednisone 10mg, Meloxicam 7.5mg, Tramadol (does not work) Trazadone 100mg for sleep. The Rhumie wants a bone scan next month and if the Prednisone does not work he wants an MRI to see how bad the inflamation is. Does anyone feel like their arms and feet are numb when they are sleeping?
If anyone could give me any advice on anything I would be most greatful. Does this board have archives of past post that I could look at for info? Thanks!
I too have fibro (6 years), costo (most of my life), bursitis (7 years), and now RA (about 1 year). The good news is that fibro sort of prepares you for dealing with RA, and that RA treatment is so much better now than it used to be. I know the medications can be scary, but sometimes they're not as bad as they seem. And when you read about others' experiences on here, it helps so much. I used to have a lot of numbness in the hands and feet, typically when I woke up in the morning. Although I haven't made a lot of progress in my RA treatment so far, that is one symptom that is gone. I just don't know if it was more related to RA or to my neuropathy (nerve pain). If the Tramadol is not helping you, maybe rheumy can give you something else? I'm sure he will know more once you have your tests. Welcome to AI Jane. Sorry to hear you got this news on your birthday.....that's not a real good surprise for sure. The medications do sounds scary; but they are nessesary and helpful. I've been on one form or another of disease modifying medication for the past 13 years. They are used to slow the progression of the disease. In my case they have worked wonders. I'm in no way cured; but I'm still managing very well after all these years. My store would not have been the same had I not taken the medications as prescribed. Good luck as you begin your journey. You can search old post. You can use the search field at the top of the past and just type in a subject that interest you. It will pull up a lot of old threads that you may or may not find useful. Don't hesitate to post a question if you can't find what you need. We're all anxious to share what we know. We'll be happy to help you get started. A general google seach of medications and conditions is always helpful as well. Good Luck! Hi Welcome! Can you take that crummy BDay present back? Yes I have numbness in my hands sometimes up to my elbow but not feet. Yes the meds are scarey but if you keep up the blood work your doc will be able to get you off a med that is damaging you while it is still revesible. Most people do fairly well with the meds. Just take it one day at a time. Most likely your imagination will be worse than reality. There is good help for RA now, and better is on the way.
Welcome to the board! What an icky bday present. Sorry to hear you had to find this all out on your bday. Ask any questions have. I know everything seems scary right now, but take it one day at a time. I'm hooked on this board and post almost daily. If I can get the computer keyboard away from my husband! Welcome, again! Sarah Oh I had that awful pain in the shoulders, down my arms and hands, finally prednisone, mtx & now remicade have chased it away (I hope for ever!) We'll see as I'm reducting preds every week.....S Thank You all for the great info & welcome you have given me so far! I will defentily search the board for more info. Hope to get to know alot of you!Sorry about the crappy birthday present.
doctor started you on a DMARD yet? I sometimes get a feeling that the pads
of my feet are sunburned. I have had that since starting the Plaquinil so not
sure if it is med rrelated or RA related.
I am pretty new here also and the folks have been great. Super friendly too!
I just turned 46 a couple weeks ago and have had RA for 37ish years. I have tried almost all the RA meds and all have made me either too ill to continue or had little to no effect.
You are correct the meds are scary. But if they do work and your insurance covers them...do try them. But be honest with your doctor about safety concerns. Especially as there is little if any information on the longer term use of almost all of them.
It is good you are researching EVERYTHING. I suspect becoming an informed patient may be about the best thing we can do for ourselves. More info means better grasp of the risk/benefit side of each medication.
Another thing that can help is knowing your doc's and how to approach each one so as not to set off that "gawd complex" so many have. I am luck that on good days my GP & Rheumy both are good listeners when I have a thought out suggestion and/or question. One thing I stopped doing, eventually, to being suspicious of my doc's and feeling they do not care. Somewhere along the way I realized they deal with problems all day long and that can make them tend to be dismissive out of self-defense if for no other reason. Now, I take the time to ask the doc how he/she is doing and listen to what they say. try and read their body language that day and see what helps them relax. Then when ya have them relaxed is the time to ask questions and make suggestions. Sorta-kinda turn the tables on them...funny, as simplistic and manipulative as that sounds, it almost always works and over time has built a lot of trust on both sides.
But hang in there...it can be scary but not impossible.
Oh, on the RA "topics" page you can find a leetle box that says "Show Topic" and you can set that to show up to the past year of topics. I notice that anything over that is usually outdated when taking medications or has been repeated any number of times with basically the same answers. So a years worth should do ya OK.btw, I would get the doc to swap the Tramadol for Vicodin as my experience with Tramadol is the same as yours...why bother because it basically does squat nutthin'...
And the Trazadone has other issues beyond a sleep aid. Personally I would never accept it as a sleep aid. It might actually retard your ability to reach REM/Delta-wave sleep. I would look into something like Lunesta or even ann OTC alternative from NOW Vitamins called Nighttime Herbs. It is a mix of herbs that helps me sleep. And if you have the problem of racing thoughts at night adding a bit of GABA (I prefer the sub-lingual kind) can really help there. I get my herb supplements from a place called TheCatalog.com the prices are good and so is the service.
I have tried everything to help me sleep, and even have an Rx for Lunesta. I cannot use Melatonin as it eventually makes me very cranky. The Lunesta does work but I get decent results with the Nighttime herbs. I also get WONDERFUL results using a product from GAIA Herbs called "Sound Sleep". It has a few more herbs the Nighttime does not have...one is Kava Kava. Of all the sleep aids I found the GAIA product is the best by far...but I am getting good enough results from the NOW Vitamin product, for now anyway.
You can do a search on the AI site. In the above menu buttons you will find "search." Click on this and it will take you to another screen that will give you options of what you want to search for, and if you want the info from the title of the thread or within the message. This is where I went a lot in the beginning.
Copyright ArthritisInsight.com