My journey with RA

Hello and welcome, !

I am sorry you are dealing with another autoimmune condition. Unfortunately, it's not all that unusual to be diagnosed with another autoimmune condition once you have been diagnosed with one.

I wanted to share a story from one of our health leaders about his experience with RA and possible Hashimoto's. Mind you, he was diagnosed with RA first and was recently facing a Hashimoto's or Cushing's Disease diagnosis -- https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/hashimotos-thyroiditis. Also, being newly diagnosed can be a pretty overwhelming time. You have been through this before, but facing a new diagnosis is daunting, to say the least. One of our health leaders wrote about being diagnosed with RA after living with Crohn's and I thought you might find her experience dealing with a new diagnosis relatable -- https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/blood-tests-diagnosis. Dealing with two or more autoimmune conditions can be pretty tricky, but it is doable. And some of the medications used to treat different autoimmune conditions do overlap, which can be helpful. That said, if you feel like Leflunomide isn't working for you, please make sure you let your doctor know. It can take 3 to 6 months for the treatment to reach ful efficacy, though you can start seeing benefits within 6 to 12 weeks, so unless you are dealing with unmanageable side effects, you may want to give it a little more time.


Keep in communication with your doctor and I hope he/she is open to listening to you and that they work with you to find the best treatment for you. Lastly, I wanted to share this article with helpful questions to ask your rheumatologist -- https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/5-rheumatologist-questions. There are many member comments at the end of the piece and I find the questions suggested to be really insightful.

I hope you get lots of feedback from other community members, as I know lots of folks here can relate to what you are going through.

Please know you are not alone here and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any more questions. We're happy to help in any way we can!

Best, Erin, Team Member.

Hi . Your anxiety with facing the RA diagnosis and starting treatment is certainly understandable. This page from our editorial team collected some thoughts from contributors for the newly diagnosed: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/advice-for-newly-diagnosed. Also, our contributor Kat wrote this two part article for the newly diagnosed: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/support-new-diagnosis and https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/care-management.

Concerning medication, it is true that you won't know for a little bit whether your new treatment will work for you, but the good news is that there are more and better options than ever (see here for an overview of treatments: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/treatment). My wife, Kelly Mack (a contributor here), was diagnosed at age two, 47 years ago - before modern treatments, with the damage to show for it. About seven years ago now she started a new treatment that brought her inflammation numbers into the normal range for the first time ever. I know my friend and fellow Admin Dan Malito has a similar story. On more than one occasion Kelly and I have discussed with her rheumatologist the hope that kids diagnosed today won't get near the same level of damage.

Finally, I want to share with you this article from Carla, which was part of a series of things she would tell her newly diagnosed self, simply titled "Enjoy Your Life:" https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/no-7-enjoy-your-life. Please feel free to keep us posted on how you are doing and know that you definitely are not alone. Best, Richard (Team Member)