My Story

I was 31 and had just given birth to my first child, after 5 years of trying to get pregnant.

Post-pregnancy symptoms

When my son was about 5 weeks old, I started to feel achy. A week later and I could hardly walk.

It felt like I was walking on burning glass. It quickly spread through all the joints in my limbs and I was left unable to take care of my baby, let alone myself.

I couldn’t bath him, couldn’t wash my own hair, couldn’t lift him, and had to zip his sleepers up with my teeth after awkwardly guiding his little arms and legs in.

My hands were useless and it hurt so bad to move them.

Because I was nursing and wanted to try for a second baby, I couldn’t go for a stronger treatment option like methotrexate or prednisone, so started with sulfasalazine and Plaquenil.

Decrease in RA symptoms

It took about 7 months for me to feel relief.

I call RA the gift my son gave me for having him.

I have since found out that it can be common for something like pregnancy/childbirth to bring on RA. The good part?

My symptoms completely disappeared while I was pregnant with my second child and I was off all medication.

It has never gotten as bad as when it first started, and I am so thankful for that. I have now tried several other treatments, and my disease is stable currently, allowing me to enjoy my time with my kids, who are now 13 and 11.