Getting old sucks!

  Well recently I tested positive for connective tissue disease.  I'm confused by the whole thing.  When I went to the Dr she took a moment to choose her words to tell me what was wrong.  The first thing out of her mouth was "I want you to know, this is not a death sentence."  What the heck?  Ok, so then she explained to me that I have an auto immune disease.  So far, I have not seen the specialist because we all know that takes two months to get in.  In the meantime, I have been prescribed plaquenil.  The first week was wonderful!  Finally nothing hurt!  After that week, I was back to being fatigued, and in pain.  Is this common?  I'm so upset.  I feel like I'm crippled half of the time.  I wish I had answers.