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Mike's Story

Mjcasper1@msn.com 

Hello and thank you so much for this opportunity to share my story. first ill say that i was one of those people that grew up mostly thinking that arthritis is something "old" people get in their hands. how wrong i was. chronic pain isnt new to me however, i was diagnosed with shermans disease when i was a child ( a degenerative back disease, the wearing away of the back bone) and i also have an extra vertabrea at the end of my spine. but the arthritis started as pain a number of years ago and a Dr. told me i had bursitis. didnt really check me, just went by what i told him i was feeling. the pain grew and spread some over the next few years and then i went back to another Dr. a couple years ago and was told they couldnt figure out what was wrong. then since that time the pain has gone crazy, gotten extreme and very intense. spreading to the joints from my shoulder to my fingers and everything in between on my right side. hip, down my leg to my toes on the right side and my left side is working on catching up to the right side. anyway, in the past couple months iv seen another Dr that did some extensive testing and diagnosed me with osteoarthritis so far ive been put on celebrex that didnt help at all so it was changed to ultracet. im very new to this but i do want to offer myself for any help or support that i can for anyone that needs it. 
take care everyone,

mike