I have only been on my meds for almost a month and I have good days and bad days. More good than bad though. I am also in a drug study with a new drug called Ocrelizimab. I get 4 IV's a year. I also take my MTX and they are building me up to 8 pills/week. I like you am hoping that this combination is going to work. I don't like hurting. Hope all goes well with you. Good luck. Penny

Angie, No life is not over!!! You will believe it or not actually have a fairly normal life once you find the right meds. With that said, you are open to a "flare" whenever...wherever...often with no rhyme or reason! But I can tell you STRESS and weather are big factors. Flares are like childbirth you forget about the awful pain you endured once they are over only to rekindle your memories when the next flare strikes. It took a year for me initially to find the right combo of meds that worked fro me. I have gone years, yes years without a relapse and then well lets say "arthur" ( what experienced RA suffers call it) decides to pay a surprise visit! You never know when so my best advice to you is to live every pain free day with gusto!!!! Take care and keep us abreast of your progress.

Hi angie, as u know i have been dx for 20 years and your life will never be the same again but..u will have good days and bad. You learn to adjust to it so that the less painful days seem to make u feel "normal"..once they get u on the right meds u will feel better..pred is the best drug out there as far as feeling normal but because of side effects they dont let u keep it...personally if i could have pred and give up all the other meds it would be worth the side effects all the meds have some side effect to them so why not give us what works or makes us fell "normal" ...good luck and hope u feel better very soon!

unfortunately i have beern on several meds for years and i feel like crap daily but i guess it could be worse for if i forget to take my meds ouchhhhhhh

I've been on Methotrexate since last April, along w/Plaquenil and Folic Acid. It tooka bout 5 months before I regularly had good days again, but I have to say I've had them more and more. I did have surgery on my right knee last month - that seemed to be the last holdout for pain - they cleaned the cartilidge and synovium lining and I've felt terrific since then (knock wood!) So, I don't kow hot long you've been on the meds, but hopefully you'll see improvements soon.

I know how you feel, I wonder the same things. I am beginning to accept that I will never jump around like I used to and every day is something new. Just live the good ones as much as you can. There are plenty of good days BTW and sometimes you can actually forget you have RA.

angie1, i wonder the same thing. i feel tired & sore a lot with the med's i'm on. of course there are good days, but i see all these commercials about enbrel & humira giving you your life back. i don't see that yet. all i know is we can't give up the fight. :)