6 years of crazy

Hi, I have always had pain. Doctors have told me since I was 12 that I had weak bones but could strengthen my frame by building core muscles. Great!

I played sports, ALL the time. Broke or dislocated almost every bone in my body more than once. It started getting bad after child number 6 when I was 32. I was prescribed more pain medication and muscle relaxers.

An emerging flare

Fast forward 5 years, now 37 - I woke up and felt like someone had lit me on fire. The left side of my face was swollen, burned like a curling iron was left on it and I had to get naked and stand in the middle of the room.

My husband called 3 of my doctors to find out what I should, could do to alleviate some of the pain.

I made it through an ice bath, put on very loose clothing, and went to ER. There I was tested, treated like I was having a mental break, and in walked a rheumatologist. Wrong room but I for lucky.

Evolving rheumatologist relationship

She took 5 minutes to look at my blood work and started me on a medication I was familiar with, methotrexate. Within 4 hours, my skin stopped burning and I stopped crying.

Since then, another 6 years later, she is my doctor and had discovered I not only have RA (autoimmune issue-I had no idea), osteoarthritis, hypothyroidism (another autoimmune issue), psoriasis (autoimmune-again-not in fact repeat shingles all these years), last but certainly not least, bullous pemphigous (the first few layers of epidermis separate from the underlying cells and fill with fluid) - you got it! Also an autoimmune disorder.

Top all of this off with a second bout of breast cancer, bilateral modified radical mastectomy that after 2 years still won't heal ... 2020 brought COVID. Those are weaknesses or conditions of the body.

An RA community is invaluable

I'm joining this forum so I may gain interaction with people who have to be just as careful right now and that get RA isn't just an ache or a pain. You have to change your diet and lifestyle to accommodate the days you can't move, even with medication.

My strengths - I'm funny, positive and if I can make you smile then I'm smiling too.