RA related to VF?

Hey again Ellen!  I'll try and be shorter here lol.  I meant to ask if the rheumatoid arthritis is related to valley fever cuz I wasn't sure on that but I do know arthritis can be a side effect from it.  I was dx'd in 2003 with valley fever and had it for 3 years (now stable) and I have not felt the same since.  Once I became stable I was then dx'd with cancer.  I started seeing my rheumatologist in 2003 and i've been seeing him regularly ever since.  Sometimes though one wonders..do I really have this????  I have put a binder together with all my tests and stuff so think i'm gonna go thru and see what they all have listed for my body as far as arthritis, my spine and joints go.  As far as my back/spine goes yes i've done lifting in my job for 40 yrs (i'm an RN).  I never thought about it or had much problem that I knew of until the nite I could barely walk and had to go to urgent care and thats when the radiologist said he was surprised I could even walk and that I must have had a terrible accident to cause all this damage.  So it was a shock to me.    So I basically worry about my spine cuz of everything and worry which one will give me the most problem.  I did seek the opinion of a spine specialist from the orthopedic stand point just to get a second opinion ( I also worked with him at the hosp) and he's the one that told me to not let anyone touch my spine with a knife (surgery) because it could do more damage than good.

What part of the country are you in?  Do you have your story posted somewhere?  I don't know the in's and outs here yet so excuse all my questions :)  Thank you so much for ur replies they are greatly appreciated!!

I have some other shareposts you can check out - kinda keep telling my story from different angles depending on what the current question is.  I'm in very upper New York State, about 20 miles south of the Canadian border (Ottawa and Montreal are closer than Syracuse!).  LONGGGGG winters up here!  We've had occasional snow in April and even once in May.  It gets kind of depressing and frustrating. I'm from NJ originally, met my hubby here in graduate school (music). He's from Vermont (I LOVE New England, would probably choose to live there if I'm ever on my own - but they have a lot of winter too!)  RA seems to run in my family - my grandmother and aunt on my mother's side both had it, and my cousin & I now have it ... starting in our 50s (my cousin is a nurse too - mostly retired, used to do Remicade infusions for people with Crohn's disease. 

     If you're really in a bad way, Remicade and similar biologics seem to be the best bet - unless you have a history of cancer or heart disease (congestive heart failure in particular, I think).  Not sure how diabetes fits in, but I think there are some other 'experts' on this site who might address that.  You might want to ask in a sharepost, or in the Ask A Question forum.

On my meds i've had a hard time deciding which ones I want to try. I've had 2 or 3 so far and have been unable to tolerate them due to stomach complaints.  The other heavier drugs I kind of stayed away from due to their side effects such as (lung damage - which I have already with valley fever; another one has macular degeneration - which I was diagnosed 1989 but now they are questioning it and my doc said no to that one).  Sooo its a guess by trial and error i'm learning.  I am a cancer survivor so meds from that have contributed to my bone pain as well.  What medications are you on for the RA??  My hubby and I have talked about it and I think I will try the Methotrexate next.  One plus about that is you only take it once a week ....yahooooo lolol.  I take so many meds its crazy.  I was on azulfidine and went off that, then I've been on Imuran 150 mg daily and it has depleted my wbc count soo I have been sick now for 4 weeks.  I was down to 3.5 which I don't like being that low because it opens you up to so much problems not only for my RA but also can affect my hx with valley fever.  Catch 22? lol.  My husband and I have talked about stopping all meds except certain ones and starting over but too many important ones for now.  I am also diabetic and take insulin 4-5 times a day so that contributes to problems with the low immune system too.  If you or anyone out there have had methotrexate and can let me know how it goes would be great :)  Thank you Ellen for your reply!

No, I've never taken Methotrexate. Ironically, when I was first diagnosed, my rheumy was going to put me on it, until he got my liver tests, which showed my liver enzymes were very high.  I had been taking only 100 mg Celebrex and 10 mg Amitriptyline for about 6 months, which is about the lowest dose of each, plus 200 - 400 mg guaifenesin (about the same amount that is in Robitussin).  Nothing extraordinary.  So I voluntarily went off the Celebrex and amitriptyline and in 2 weeks the liver test showed normal.  But because of that high, he would not put me on MTX or any of the other typical starting rheumy drugs that can affect the liver.  I had 2 infusions of Remicade which definitely worked (a little too well, in my case, it was so early), but had some side effects I didn't like.  I went on my own for a while (6 mos) then went back to him and asked for Enbrel.  I've been on it ever since, with a few short 'vacations' for surgery and maybe a brief remission that first summer.

I have been on Methotrexate on and off for the past 7 years.  At the beginning it affected my stomach somewhat but I got over that.  I have seven grandchildren who visit often and I babysit once in a while.  It seemed that I always was getting sick and had to go off the methotrexate until I got better.  My opinion is that it is a good drug if you can tolerate it.  I am now taking Plaquenil but still too soon to tell.