Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
Hey Folks. So I'm 68 and after 40 years as a Carpenter, I had a little Arthritis here and there - mostly my right knee, but I was functioning fine. Then, two weeks ago and almost overnight, I went from Working Man to Laying About Whimpering with Pain Man. Nearly every joint in my body flared. Soles of my feet, ankles, knees, neck, collar bone joints, shoulders, wrists, fingers, even my jaw joints. My blood tests came back positive for RA and my doctor said she would have a Rheumatologist call me and set up an appointment. No joy so far. My main fear these days is that they won't be able to get it under control quickly enough that I can get back to work. Without me generating an income, we're not that far from moving into a cardboard box under the overpass. Question: when and if they manage to get the right balance of meds so the pain shocks become manageable, do the fatigue and sleepiness continue? Or also reduce? My wife just come back from the store with a bag of nostrums. Has anyone had a good result from "copper" compression sleeves? As anyone had a good result from Salon Pas patches? I've fallen asleep twice now with my fingers on the keyboard. I'd better post this.
he plow guy was missing in action. the snowblow guy said my snowblower could not be used by neighbors anymore as it has gone to snowblow purgatory....in other words he is so overworked with fix i gigs that he can't take it away until march...and i just kind of laid there grateful to be awake remembering that the neurosurgoen said that the place where he put the plate and screws in my neck would be stonger than anything else and not break, jsut above or below could. what a comfort. i happened to have forgotten to put my phone on my person.
did snow angels for a while. then i was able to crawl in the back door. i was ok but felt stupid for both falling and not being able to communicate past the acre of snow.
CELL PHONE
We learn fast don't we.
Talk about falling in the snow.
Last year we had snow piled on every corner, like barricades on the sides of driveways. leaving very little room to walk around the car.
Took a trip to grocery store for my Aunt & Uncle. Of course packed the canned goods just enough for bag to break.
So getting bag out & bag breaks cans rolling all over snow & ice, under car & so on.....
Trying to chase down groceries fell in the snow pile laying there laughing. Needless to say I have a bladder the size of a pea. So you can guess what happened next.
Snow padded my fall so no harm done but had to go in my Aunts explaining the need to change my pants.
Won't forget that.
Patience is the hardest thing when going through the process of finding what will work for your RA.
There are those lucky ones who get relief sooner then later.
I did on the first med Enbrel. Also got the nasty side effects but is was worth it. Helped with exhaustion more then I hoped for.
Did not last full 2 yrs but I know now there is help.
Good doctors, support, education & advocating for yourself. Those are essential keys in dealing with this sneaky unpredictable disease.
Happy to see another man on board. We don't want to overwhelm the few we have,LOL.
Sammy
I don't have a wife.
i agree that someone to "keep an eye" is handy
in the absence of that I NEED a cell phone
the lump on the back of my head is going down
:)
depot
It is scary stuff watching your body fall apart at such a rapid rate.
It has been a couple of years since my diagnosis. I started on Celebrex and methotrexate (and omeprazole). They helped significantly, but didn't completely knock out the pain in my hands/wrists. Last May, we added Plaquenil. I am almost "back to normal". I still occasionally get fatigue, still have issues with one wrist off and on, but I can also hike, mountain bike, etc.
I'm lucky that the meds are effective and the side effects are minimal (MTX makes me feel crappy the next day, but it's usually just a day). I also take folic acid and my GP prescribed enzyme Co-Q10 for fatigue as well. One key is SLEEP. My fatigue decreased significantly when I started getting 7-7.5 hours of sleep nightly.
Soo... just relating my story so you realize that, while it may seem impossible, there's a good chance you can find a regime of meds and return to normal activity.