Finally a diagnosis
Got some answers today at the rheum.....well as close to an actual answer as I suppose I am going to get at least for now. She believes that I do, in fact, have RA. I played devil's advocate......trying to make sure it wasn't just osteo alone, or me being a whimp, or just the perfect storm of a bunch of issues that wasn't reeeeeralllly RA. She said although no one can be 100 percent sure, you have to go by all the pieces of the puzzle. In going over my medical history, x-rays, symptoms, reactions to meds so far. It all points to RA. She told me to stop (thank GOODness) the Lyrica. Instead she wants me to try Celebrex and then Methotrexate. The Celebrex I am more than onboard with. Hoping something besides pred. will work for pain. The Metho.....I really want to research. So there it is. It helps somewhat to at least, know what I am dealing with.
I know that wasn't the answer you wanted, but once you get on the right meds, I think you will start to feel better. I did. I took Celebrex and it worked for pain, but I was allergic to it because it is a sulfa derivative drug. I currently take methotrexate and have for 8 years. I started on pills, but once the dosage got high, I was nauseated, so we switched to injections. It was so much better.
Just be careful that you do more than treat the pain. If you don't treat the disease, it continues to progress, which will increase the damage and the pain. The damage can also spread to organs. My lungs are damaged.
I know this is an overwhelming diagnosis and you have so much to try to consider when deciding how to proceed. It will take some trial and error, but you will find a balance that works for you.
Feel better.Hello,
I am a newly diagnosed RA patient and will be seeing my rheumatologist next week. I was reading the posts here and you said you have lung damage after 8 years on methotrexate. I was wondering what did the drug help you with? Did your rheumatologist explain why your lungs were affected?I thought the purpose of medication was to control the body so things wouldn't progress to organ damage.
I am sorry but I am worried as to how this could happen after 8 years on methotrexate. Thanks
I am glad you got a diagnosis to move forward with, even if it is not an extremely happy one. We have "talked" before - I am in a similar boat. I am now about 1 yr post diagnosis, all bloodwork still negative, all symptoms still pretty typical of RA, and getting worse. A new rheum. has been great for me. And MTX has worked to a degree for me, (with no ill effects that I know of); I recently have started Plaquenil as well. (Celebrex and Leflunamide did nothing.) That and painkillers. I also went back on HRT to maybe stop all the night sweats, and maybe?? help stop the progression of the disease, as I have read about a link, and all of this started for me shortly after stopping HRT. I have had 3 trigger fingers that steroid injections are helping with, and some days I feel so much better it's almost euphoric. Then we get rain and pressure changes like today, and I'm back to lying in bed, being stabbed regularly in random places. I recently had a scare on a different health issue, and that is sure hard to deal with on top of the RA. I started to wonder if I was going to be whittled away by one thing after another until I was completely overwhelmed and this has made me distressed and depressed. I never used to get stressed easily, but I think I do now, and wonder if that makes the RA symptoms worse. But overall, I am hanging in, feeling more optimistic, EVEN thinking of starting some exercise (yoga) again, as soon as the weather stabilizes. I hope you feeling less at sea, and are starting to have some relief from your RA problems.
Hi - it seems a great number of us accumulate some damage from methotrexate - massive liver problems was my issue and I’ve been self injecting Tocilizumab now for a few years with much more success - I do it weekly and under Australian Medicare the drug is affordable for me and many like me here - lots of prednisolone to combat flares and various painkillers and stomach ulcer medication - a Statin for high cholesterol and various blood pressure meds - rattle rattle - all in a days work and I have to say my general practitioner and rheumatologist both work brilliantly hand in hand to do their best for me -
Hi, mamadee. Just wondering how you are doing, if you care to answer. Hope you are managing.
