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The story of my RA

Hi everyone. I am new to this site, but not too new to RA. I was diagnosed with RA after the birth of my second child. I was 28. I am now 61. Needless to say, I have been on every RA treatment known to man. I was on the Enbrel drug study for probably 20 years and had fantastic results. Then one day Enbrel just quit working. My doctor and I are still in the process of trying to find a "concoction" that works. I am on infusions right now. About 6 weeks after my son was born I started noticing stiffness. I was breast feeding my son and my shoulders started aching to the point where I couldn't remove my arm from whatever top I was wearing. Then my hands, fingers and wrists started aching. I would pick my son up from his crib and literally drop him right back into the crib. I couldn't even pick up his weight of 8 lbs. Then it went to my feet and ankles. I was supporting myself on furniture to walk. I went to my family doctor and was diagnosed with RA. My doctor put me on antibiotics for the rest of my life. Nothing else, just antibiotics. My aunt also had RA and scheduled me an appointment with her Rheumatologist. He put me in the hospital for a week and started me on "gold" shots, physical and occupational therapy. I was on a number of other RA medicines until my doctor got me on the Enbrel drug study. Miracles of miracles, Enbrel worked. I had forgotten what it felt like not to hurt all the time. It was amazing. Enbrel probably helped me for 15 years. I stayed on Enbrel for another 5 after it quit helping. I have switched Rheumatologists since then and he is bound and determined to find the right "concoction" that will help me. In the past 2 years, I have been on so many different RA medicines that I really lost count. I am now on an infusion. I go to the cancer center (and spend all day there) for a treatment and go back again 2 weeks after. Then I wait for 5 months and do it all again. Sometimes I feel okay but most the time I don't. I have had numerous replacement surgeries which have helped. The most beneficial surgery I had was a total wrist transplant. My Rheumatologist recently put me on a "mind" pill (Xanax) because I lost the fight to RA. I was at the point where I had given up. This is the way I would feel the rest of my life. So, depressing!!!! So, my doctor said we needed to get my mind in the right place again. So, I added another medication to my long list of medications. But I will stay positive and know my doctor will find something that will help me.

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