I finally know I will be in pain everyday

By bj in pain everyday Thursday, March 19, 2009

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Hello all, I am new here but have been living with RA symptoms for 2 years. I was one of those who had a fair to poor Rheumy. I think he was too busy. He thought I had fibromyalgia and after reading EVERY thing on it I knew he was wrong, (no pain in any other part of my body but in my joints) so after, oh like 40 pain meds, and prednisone, he put me on MTX and sulfasalizine. I got so sick, but the pain went away, yeah, for like a month.

Needless to say I missed a bunch of work and finally got laid off. I am now seeing a new Rehumy. This one is a young guy just out of school (Like Stanford for his residency and Harvard for his Bachelors and Mayo Clinic for his Internal Medicine Rheumy training). I have the best person for the job.

So what was his diagnosis, I will be in pain, in some fashion every day. Ok I give up. I am on enbrel and leflunomide (areva). I too have diarreah, but it is because I had the flu and it is taking me alot longer to get over it.

So there you have it, I hate that I am not even forty and I cannot take a bike ride without a flare.

Sources of Information

Comments (3) | Add comment

Jamie

3/20/09 1:44pm

I too have a burned out rheumy who told me he wanted to just pack it in. I am seeing a young enthusiastic Dr. next week and pray that he will be good. Did your new one really say that you will be in some level of pain every day? What else did he say? What is the prognosis? I was also told I had fibromyalgia. I also read everything and said, it's my joints that hurt, not my muscles.

My Dr. didn't give me any advice or talk about the future or anything so I am interested to hear everything this guy said. Tell me more.

bj in pain everyday

3/20/09 6:20pm

Well my new rheumy said I did not have fibro. Thank god. I hate taking pain meds. I have RA in my hands, my neck and my feet. Feet are the worst. It is not viral and I am projected to have a pretty bad case. If the RA starts in the feet it is harder to treat. I am a poet and didn't know it! :)

I apologize I should have said his complete statement, he said that until I find the right combo of meds (am on my 5th set of different medications) I will have pain everyday. I should also mention that I have totally refused steroids. I can't stand the side effects. So I am just going to have to deal with the flares. I am a trooper, it is the not being able to walk that sucks!

Lene Andersen, Health Guide

3/23/09 11:59am

Sorry that you're a member of the "club", but happy to hear that you've got a good doctor. Finding the right treatment can be a bit of a process with trying one medication, then another, then a combination of a few, etc. Eventually, you will find something that works for you and your pain will become manageable. You may want to consider taking a small dose of prednisone with the Enbrel - it may give your primary medication a bit of a boost, which will make you feel better, while minimizing the side effects.

It's very likely that your diarrhea is from the flu and you'll get over it quickly, but if it continues, it may be from the Arava - I was on that for a while and it gave me diarrhea. The good news is that Enbrel can be constipating, so maybe the two will balance each other out. Last year, I wrote a post about how to manage medication side effects and you may want to check that out.

I've had RA for 40 years and been in pain every day for most of that time, sometimes more, sometimes less. You find a way of filtering it out so that even if you are in pain, you don't really notice it. Painkillers help - I know we're all taught that painkillers are bad, but when you have a disease that involves chronic pain, painkillers are your friends. They are what help you get up in the morning with a smile on your face (okay, some mornings), what keeps you moving, working, going out, playing with the dog, making dinner, doing the laundry, dancing around the living room, etc. It can be a bit of a challenge to shift your respective on painkillers, but in the long run, it's worth it when you get to the point where you pain is managed.

Glad you found this site and thank you for posting!

I finally know I will be in pain everyday

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