I feel so alone in this venture, not knowing what to expect. My family does not have, or possibly never realized that they too had RA. Many in my family have OA but that is not what scares me. Everything I have read about RA, the disease itself the medicines to treat it, how much my life has changed in just a short 2 years. I have joined a gym a couple of months back. Even before I was dx I knew I had something, and suspected it was RA. I had done a lot of research on my symptoms, and had a RHuematologist who didn't listen. I felt like I had to gain my own information. Now I go to my new Rhuematologist, the one who actually did the right test and came back with the positive Rhuematoid factor along with bone scans that showed inflammation in all of my joints. I don't know what to expect. He wants to discuss a strategy to start treatment. I don't know what is best, even after all that I have read. My husband and 5 kids are very supportive, along with the rest of my family. When I bring up my fears though I know I go on and on because at this point I have no answers. I know this can wear on them. I want to feel better. Not go in to work exausted from the night of painfull sleep. Come home and play with my kids like I once did. Will it ever get better? Are there any meds that are safer than others. I don't know. I am still in limbo.
Welcome to our community, Heather. There are a lot of caring people here w/a lot of knowledge they can share with you. I am a newbie, but I can tell you there are many medicines for you and your doctor to look at. He will work with you to find the ones that work best for you, because all of us are different. If you are in a lot of pain, the doctor may give you a burst of prednisone to help w/the flare until the RA is under control. They use DMARDs, or disease modifying antirheumatic drugs, to keep the RA from doing futher damage to your joints. Sometimes, they will need to prescribe one of the biologic medicines like Embrel or Simponi, etc. It is a balance act with medicine. You balance the risk of the meds against how much the RA is affecting your life. I only take Plaquenil, Pennsaid (topical nsaid), Lexapro, blood pressure and asthma meds, and Lipitor...and occasionally prednisone. The Plaquenil is a DMARD and has been around for 50 years or so. It is, according to my doctor, the safest DMARD. If that doesn't work, they often prescribe Methotrexate. This is a drug used to fight cancer but is used in much lower doses for people with RA. I don't have RA. I have Inflammatory Arthritis and Osteoarthritis and Fibromyalgia, and I am pretty new to all this, but I wanted to share what I do know. There are many people on this site who can help you a lot. I'm sure some of them will chime in, when they get the chance. I know you feel alone and scared. I think that is normal. When you need to vent or need information, you can come here and we will listen and offer what knowledge we do have to share. Go to the home page on this site and read some of the information for the newly diagnosed. That should help a lot. I am sorry you have RA, but your chocies in medications are much better than they were even a decade ago. It will take patience, but hopefully they will find the right combination of meds that work for you. Peace, V
V,
Thank you so much for your advice and kind words. There is that part of my brain that knows that I have to take the meds because the alternative is even worse. You are right though, it is still scary. I don't like not knowing. Hearing from you the process and not just reading it from some medical page off the internet makes me feel a lot better about the whole process. Thank you for the warm welcome too. I look forward to continueing to post and even possibly helping someone else whenever I can get to that point. I look forward to talking to you again. Hugs, Heather