My family thought I was nuts
It started the week of my 27th birthday on a trip back home during grad school, and me, my wife and parents did a road trip to Vegas. After getting there my hip hurt, and I blamed it on sitting in a car for 10 hours. Then it began to hurt worse and worse until laying in the hotel that night I was nearly in tears from the pain. Over the next couple months to it was a painful wrist, swollen red joints on my fingers, so that I could barely tie my shoes from pain or an inflamed knee that made it hard to walk. It would only last a day or two then like nothing had ever hurt. After a few months I literally hopped to a doctor and got a rheumatologist referral. Neither the first doctor or rheumatologist had any idea and only give me some anti-inflammatory medicine and pain killers never made a dent when things hurt. Then as mysteriously as symptoms started they stopped and went away for almost a year until I finished my Ph.D. And we moved. In the mean time I had been searching online for anything that sounded like my original symptoms, and finally found a description of palindromic rheumatism and it matched exactly like what experienced. Then symptoms started again but less severe and I found a new rheumatologist. During our first meeting instead of being like the last with no clue her first words after listening to my history was palindromic rheumatism! I felt so vindicated that I wasn't crazy! During all the initial symptoms my family thought I was making it up and ignored how much pain I was in. Now the Dr. has given me at 30 years old an official RAdiagnosis (palindromic rheumatism that developed into full RA). Typing all this hurts and I am hoping to start on metho in a few months after we finish working on baby 2. I am hoping to see more improvement on that than plaquenil. Now it is wondering with my wife how our future will look as we get older and if I will have the ability to do a lot of what we want since even now doing things is harder. Right now I am having a flare and my hands and feet hurt and it is hard to type, drive and sleep. I find it helpful seeing other people's stories and all the resources on here! Thanks.
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