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Lynn's Story

Gypsyrose1977@aol.com

Hello, everyone!

My name is Lynn, and I was diagnosed with RA in June of 1999. I'm 41, married (20 years yesterday), mom of two boys (ages 16 & 11) and work full-time as a loan officer in a bank. I first noticed symptoms in March of 1999, beginning with a couple of fingers being swollen and stiff, then a knuckle on the other hand, then my feet, then a knee, and so on.

I, being the Type A personality and controlling person I am, began reading everything I could get my hands on about my symptoms, and kept coming back to RA (besides scaring myself to death with a few other possibilities). I have a wonderful doctor, who is a specialist in Internal Medicine here at our local clinic. I'd seen him before, for treatment of Graves Disease (hyperthyroidism) in 1987, then he diagnosed me as hypothyroid in 1997 (which is quite common after radioactive iodine treatment for hyperthyroidism - he says your chances of going hypo increase about 5% per year).

I phoned his nurse, and said "I think I need to have a rheumatoid panel - do I need to see him first?" Needless to say, her reaction was - "Well - Yes! He needs to examine you and decide what type of panel he thinks you need." So, I made an appointment, we discussed my symptoms, and he agreed it sounded like RA. The labwork confirmed it, and his recommendation was Celebrex and methotrexate. He said, "This is what I would do if I had this disease." and that was good enough for me.

We've had to increase my methotrexate dosage a couple of times during the last year, but I'm managing fairly well. As my doc says, "I can't cure you, but as long as you don't have any hot, red, swollen joints, that's a good thing."

I started having some problems with my left hip and lower back about five weeks ago, and he recommended I try physical therapy, so that's where I am at this point. I had my first session this week, and the 'lumbar stabilization program' seems to be helping some, although I am still having some pain and tingling down my leg and on the top of my foot. Time will tell, I guess. My doc says he won't do an MRI unless he's ready to perform surgery, so I think we'll give the PT 'the old college try' and see if things get better.

I guess the most difficult thing for me in having to live with RA is that there are times when I feel this disease has taken over my life. I try very hard not to let it take over my family's lives as well. We've always been very active, camping, hiking, sports, you name it, and I've had to scale back a lot. I'm also terrified of becoming disabled. As I said before, I am a very in-charge, controlling (I'm working on that) type of person, and was always the one who thought I had to 'fix' everything for everyone else. I can assure you, things have changed a lot in that area!

Some days I feel so down and depressed, and other days I'm just as determined that I won't let this thing beat me. I know that, no matter what the future holds, this disease might take away some of my physical abilities, but it will never conquer my mind, my heart, or my spirit! Just let it try! (My Dad used to tell me I was the most bull-headed kid he'd ever seen, which is true, because I got it from him!)

I am so grateful to have found this site, and am very impressed with the support of everyone on the boards. I've been reading for a couple of weeks now, and hope to be able to join some of the chats (some of them are past my bedtime LOL).

I always try to remember something I've told my children many times - The way we deal with adversity is what builds our character, and helps to make us who and what we are. I intend to be victorious!