I do not know how long I have had RA but was diagnosed about 1.5yrs ago. I had some pains in my wrists for a few days, then my knees,my feet probably hurt the worst, it would just move around at will. I did finally go to my GP and he gave me a prednisone. The next day I felt about 90% better. About a week after tappering off to the last dose I would start to feel a little soar again. And as you can probably guess I put off going back until I just could not stand the pain. Anyway this went on for about 6 months and the GP suggested that I go to the Reumatologist for "Migratory Arthritis". I looked all over and could not find migratory anywere. There was a 3 month wait to rheumy. I refused to take off work and would shuffle in and around because to actually walk and lift my feet would bring tears to my eyes. I would call and see if I could get in any sooner or if they could call me something in but the best I got was like tylynol 3. By the time I finally went to my appt. It took about an hour to get out of bed and be able to walk down stairs. I spent about 5 min per sock just to get them on. The come / go pain in my shoulder kept me from being able to move my arms some days. (luckily never both on the same day) I was bent over, shuffling, swollen and in a lot of pain. I was diagnosed and started on MTX the first day. The waiting for something to kick in was absolutely the worst. The RD was reluctant to give me as high of a dose of prednisone as I had taken in the past. It was a wait and see game.
Today I am taking Remicade, MTX, Protonics, Etodolac, and folic acid. The last Remicade #5 did not seem to do anything at all. Until then I was pretty happy with it. Next appt.late Aug.
Jay