Hi There
I was diagnosed with RA back in January 2007 after, approximately 4 months after initial symptoms developed and turned very nasty very quickly. From pains in one wrist one week to both wrists the next ... and then over 90 percent of my joints within the next 3 months or so.
I have been on sulfasalisine, methotrexate, Anti-TNF and Etodolac and whilst these brought some element of control to the condition I was constantly researching to find out what the triggers were for this auto-immune response.
I finally found them - and it was all down to food intolerance. I am now totally medication free, with no arthritis symptoms. My diet is quite restricted but it's very healthy and very varied.
The foods that triggered the auto-immune response were
Cow's milk whey
Wheat Flour
Yeast
Mushrooms
Soya
Gluten
My diet now consists of mostly freshly prepared meat, fish and vegetables and avoiding processed foods at all costs. Cakes/sweets/biscuits are easier to make and source than you may realise!
I found a website called "testyourintolerance.com". The results came back in about 10 days form hair strands and within 5 days of cutting this stuff out of my diet my symptoms had gone completely.
I'm not wishing to give you false hope - but it worked for me and I'm planning on telling as many people as I can that may have a similar problem to me. I was fed up just treating the symptoms and feeling like a damn pin cushion!
I have tried re-introducing some of the things on my banned list - but as soon as I do the arthritis symptoms return within hours in some cases (yeast, wheat, gluten and soya) and two days (cow's milk products).
Good luck!
Simon
This won't help with the needle phobia part but my pharmacist told me to rub my leg with an ice cube first to numb it a little - even though it is a small needle and doesn't really hurt, I found that if I couldn't feel it at all I wasn't so scared to inject myself...
I started off using ice, as that was suggested to me by the nurse educator at my rheum's office, but then wondered how much it was actually doing. I actually don't use ice anymore, because I discovered it wasn't doing too much. But it took me a while to get brave enough to try it without. Very good advice, though!
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Great information and sharing about needle phobia. I completely understand. I had trouble the first couple of times, but was able to get better at it. I can just imagine how difficult it would be for those with needle phobia. Take care and be healthy. :)