Arthritis?

[Bob_Skurka]

Bob, did you ever get the whole "you're too young to have arthritis" thing from people? That drove me nuts .

Eric, I was actually very lucky. As I stated mine was diagnosed when I was about 20 years old and it only happened because my dad had RA and I was exhibiting some of the same symptoms. I had very severe pain in my upper arms/shoulders and quite often could not lift my arms from my side (impossible to put on a button down shirt, dry after a shower, etc) so I was taking asprin until my ears were ringing, all the normal treatments. Finally my mom and my wife realized my symptoms were similar to my father's symptoms. I went to my dad's Rheumatologist and he started me on Plaquinil immediately. It didn't work for me, and has the nasty side effect of creating light sensitivity in some people. Every part of my skin that was exposed to sunlight burst out in red inflamed rash within a week or two of starting. I then went directly to Methotrexate. I've had a lot of ups and downs, but for the past couple of years (knock on wood) the RA has been in 'near remission' and as long as I don't over do things, I live a nearly pain free life. He has suggested I try Enbril or Humira (sp?) in combination with the Methotrexate and possibly other drugs, but my X-rays are not showing further joint damage. So he and I agreed that I will move to some other combination of drugs AS SOON AS there is any evidence that the disease progresses with further joint damage. Until that time, I'm content to feel pretty good!

I do also think there is a MENTAL component to RA that is a very big problem. It is easy to go into serious depression. And again that is another reason why I keep harping that people need to go to a Rheumatologist as quickly as possible. Run don't walk. The faster they get your physical pain under some level of control, the quicker you can figure out that you won't end up in a wheel chair or hospital bed for the rest of your life.

 

[roxynoodle]

When people tell you you are too young to have arthritis, just remind them that even some children have it. That usually stops them in mid-mouth. When Lyme disease was first discovered, it was the children who were the most common victims. All they knew is that they had a large number of children in Lyme, Connecticut with arthritis, which is what caused them to begin investigating the cause. Children can also have RA and Lupus. I also tell people there are a lot of different kinds of arthritis, not all of it is osteo.

I got a surprise day off work due to heavy fog! I'm taking a lunch break right now, but then back to my stone veneer. Hopefully I'll be feeling ok tomorrow.

 

[Phils]

Twenty years ago, 6 months after I'd removed a tick from my underarm that had been there for a few days (combination of circumstances that I didn't find it sooner) I began to have symptoms of arthritis. Daily I'd wake up with one or two more fingers that wouldn't bend, first affecting one hand then gradually moving through the other. I'd read about Lyme disease so I naively went to Urgent Care and asked to be treated for it. "We don't have Lyme Disease in this part of the country" I was told. They made me an appointment with an area RA specialist. That appointment was a couple of months away and at the speed I was being affected, I felt I'd be in a wheelchair by that time.

I went to my regular doctor (my, how hindsight shows one the right decisions). He didn't know a thing about Lyme disease. But he sat down and read about it for 20 minutes and then said he'd prescribe an antibiotic that would either cure it or do nothing, as antibiotics won't help arthritis.

Two days later I was free from the arthritis in total. My doctor kept me on the antibiotics for 6 months as the spirochete (sp?) had been "in me" for that long and had migrated into areas that could only be fixed by taking the medication that long too. It's been twenty years and I've had absolutely no other symptoms of arthritis or anything else that could have been caused by Lyme disease.

I consider myself VERY lucky! I think there must be MANY people with the disease that get misdiagnosed. I also now understand how painful and debilitating arthritis can be.

Oh, and the evening I got home from seeing my doctor, there was an article in the local paper that the "The first case of Lyme disease" had been reported in our county..... unfair as I'd "reported" my case a couple of weeks before.

Phil

 

[3RRL]

Thanks for this thread.
I have suffered for years with pain thinking it may be from sports injuries and basic abuse of my body over the years. I am still very active but have found warming up takes forever and afterwards, there is the pain. Not so much during the activity where I actually feel better, much like Bob describes. It has gotten to a point now where I am constantly in pain. At one time I thought I might be suffering from a kind of Fibromyalgia but my wife thought I was crazy.

I never thought about RA until reading this thread. But thinking back to some blood work done a couple years ago, the test came back with elevated RA levels. I have made an appointment with my Doctor this morning to discuss these possibilities and get a referral to a Rheumatologist. It would be nice to have at least one pain free day before I die.

 

[Dargo]

As Bob knows, I got the test results a couple of years ago verifying that I had RA. My physician told me that I did about 3 years ago, but I put off getting the tests done just sort of hoping it would go away. It didn't.

Since my RA seems to be very slow at it's progression I'm opting to simply "ignore" it as much as possible. I used to be into very heavy weight lifting and competing. The extremely heavy lifting is out. I've squatted, in sanctioned competition, over 700 pounds before. I'll never see that again. However, I still use the same lifting routine as before, but I just go much lighter on the weights. I have my physician's blessing to do this and, so far, so good. I'm not taking anything yet for the RA. I can't remember to take a vitamin, so I'm sure I'll be terrible at remembering to take any meds.

My physician told me that I'm basically in denial, but it seems to be working for me. Some days are worse than others, but I get by. The worst thing to my workouts now being more cardio than heavy weight is that I cannot tolerate getting overheated. Eight years ago I had a rather serious heat stroke while out digging downspout drain ditches on a 103 degree day. I only had about 20 feet left to do of the approx 180 feet I dug by hand and I just didn't want to quit. I was dizzy, my mouth was dry, and I'd stopped sweating (now I know all those were bad signs). I tried to push on to finish the ditch but my wife found me about 10' further along face down in the ditch unconscious. I don't want to make this serious of a mistake with RA, but I don't see it hitting me all the sudden like a heat stroke. I can't stress how much I regret not stopping that day and ended up with a serious heat stroke. I only mention that in hopes that I may possibly have one person recall my incident and stop when they begin to show the signs of heat stroke. Trust me, it's not worth pushing on.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Since my RA seems to be very slow at it's progression I'm opting to simply "ignore" it as much as possible.

My physician told me that I'm basically in denial, but it seems to be working for me.

Dargo, as we've discussed via email, you are playing with fire. What is happening is that your joints are deteriorating and your body can't repair that damage. While it does not hurt you too much YET, when it hits, there will be no turning back.

I've said it before, start treatment.

 

[Dargo]

Dargo, as we've discussed via email, you are playing with fire. What is happening is that your joints are deteriorating and your body can't repair that damage. While it does not hurt you too much YET, when it hits, there will be no turning back.

I've said it before, start treatment.

(Said as I look at my shoes) Yes Sir. I understand. You're telling me that actually getting the blood and other tests to confirm RA and getting a prescription (never filled) for that "methotricky" stuff isn't quite enough.

I suppose I'll have to call my Doc now, that scrip is over 6 months old. I doubt that the pharmacy will fill it now. Does it make you sick or feel weird or any stuff?

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Does it make you sick or feel weird or any stuff?

I have not known anyone who has had any weird side effects from Methotrexate. Ditto Enbril. Ditto Humira. I experienced some side effects with Plaquinil and had to discontinue use of that drug.

 

[roxynoodle]

3RRL, I also have fibromyalgia. The symptoms are muscle and soft tissue pain, migraines and sleep disorders. It can easily be diagnosed by a rheumatologist based on a pressure point test. If I recall, there are 17 pressure points he/she will press on. I think that if you have at least 11 of them, that qualifies you for fibromyalgia. I think I had 14. You can look this up online to learn more. It is largely untreatable though. The fibro is one reason my RA diagnosis took so long; many of the symptoms are similar. Actually, although RA is probably the most common disorder, there are about 100 disorders with the same/similar symptoms. There is one auto immune disorder that only affects men. Many of them, including RA, primarily affect women, so guys be aware that your doctor may not bother to test you despite your having the symptoms. Strangely it can also affect men and women differently. Men are more likely to have lung involvement with it.

BTW, I was also told that Lyme disease was not in my area. There have been recent cases on the news though of people who did in fact get it here. There is no good test for that though either. Mine was "indeterminate"... there is a range between positive and negative and that's where I was. If you know you were bitten by a tick, demand treatment. If it gets past that early stage I don't think there is any cure.

 

[utahmule]

Bob,

Enbrel is what really saved me a quality of life resembling me prior to RA. I've experienced no side effects whatsoever in almost six years. The downside is it must be refrigerated, and is only available as a subcutaneous injection. It used to be twice a week, but changed earlier this year to once weekly.

The subcu is a really small needle, and is poked in the belly, upper thigh or arm area, just not in the buttocks. It's nothing that any insulin dependent diabetic wouldn't laugh off . Humira has a pen-type needle thingy, similar to the ones for anaphlyactic shock (Bee allergies, etc.) it still counts as a perforation .

There's an article in this month's Arthritis Weekly about new studies on the fficacy of Enbrel and Methotrexate in combination. It says the rate of control is pretty darn good, better than thought previously. I don't remember the specific numbers. I've had minimal side effects from the metho. The only thing that really gave me side effets was seriously big doses of predisone that were used before I got on the Enbrel/methotrexate regimen.

I agree wholeheartedly about the mental aspect. Untreated, RA can and will rob you of the things you love, and anybody would get depressed about that. not to mention the severe pain driving you nutty after months on end without relief.

Roxy,

I here you about kids getting all the crummy diseases. it seems a lot of people aren't aware of it.

Rob,

I know what it's like to yearn for pain free days. I can't agree with Bob strongly enough, get thee to a Rheumatologist. I have to travel a good three hours to mine currently, and it's soooo worth it. RA is not well understood by most docs, (not a rip on them, it's a hard one to diagnose and treat) making a Rheumatologist vital.

Dargo,

The risk of no treatment with slow onset is that by the time you seek treament actively, the damage is done, and irreversible except for joint replacement surgery. When I saw X-rays of my joints, and the damage done in a short amount of time it was shocking.

My apologies if any of this sounded preachy, that was not the intent by any means. I was off work for 6 months from the stuff, and it has really changed the way I can live my life, so I 've thrown myself into keeping up with any ways possible to treat it and get as much back as I can. To all my RA suffering kin, I really feel your pain and frustration. If I see one more Aleve commercial "just one Alve,and my arthritis pain is gone!", I'll explode.

Tractor-related content, the RA was the prime reason I got the HST on my JD.