hi meg,

i'll tell ya my story....i'm 43 as well, didn't know anything about RA and didn't even know it was in my family tree.  Mine started right around Mother's Day.  I got a Wii as a gift from my husband and daughter. Of course, we played it all the time.  about 2 wks later, i got severe pain in my right wrist.  i attributed it to a Wii injury (playing way too much Wii Tennis).  Well, when it 'migrated' to my left wrist I thought, hmmm, i don't use my left wrist to play tennis.  Well, then it moved into my neck on the 4th of july weekend.  it was sudden and it disappeared the next day as it appeared.  Then a few days later, my left ring finger swelled up and it really started to hurt in the palm of my hand where that finger joint started. when i couldn't put my wedding ring on (i take my jewelry off every night), and plus having lost 60 lbs so far and my wedding being TOO BIG, that's when i knew i had something.  the fact that it was migratory had me concerned.  i went on webmd line and typed in 'migratory joint pain'.  i had narrowed it down to lupus, lyme disease and RA.  my cousin has lupus, so once i found out it was hereditary in some cases, that had be looking deeper. i didn't have any of the other symptoms, and lyme disease was unlikely because it's been 30 yrs since i'd been exposed to ticks (living in VA when i was a young teenager). i'd read about migratory arthritis being connected to gonorrhea and i knew i didn't have that either.  that left RA. i went to the doc about another issue i was having, and mentioned the joint pain in my knuckles that i'd started getting all the time.  doc tested me for lupus, and RA....and the day before my 43rd birthday...i get the WORST birthday present ever...THE DIAGNOSIS OF RA.  fortunately, i pressured my doc into testing for it, and that's how i got a quick diagnosis. it took forever to get into a rheumatologist, and 6 wks later, i was officially dx by the rheumy. That's also when i found out RA and lupus have run rampant on my father's side of the family. i have a cousin with RA, a cousin with lupus, and a 2nd aunt with RA and a 2nd cousin with lupus....so here i am, i've become part of the 'elite' (hardly a good word to use) 1% of American RA sufferers.  And that's my story.....it's not fun, and i would gladly trade it for something else  ~desiree

Thank you for your answers. Every so often I'll get soreness in my thumb and think ... this is it ... this is the first sign. My father had it really really bad. He was diagnoised at about 40 because his neck was always bothering him. I watched him go from someone who was physically active to someone who could hardly do anything. He died last March at 62. The RA affected his lungs and he then developed a secondary condition called amyloidosis which affected his kidneys. It was really horrible. He came to live with me for the last two years of his life.

He did find and amazing doctor though in NYC MT Sanai medical center. But by the time he found the doctor he was too far along to really reverse anything. The RA made the amyloid worse and the only way to stop the amyloid was to stop the RA but the meds for the RA compromised his immune system and he was very prone to lung infections...... 

I do have a friend though that I work with who was diagnoised with RA had it for a few years and has been in remission for the last 10 years. So that happend too.

Thank you again.

Meg

Ellen Galo

9/24/09 2:16pm

Hi Meg,

You're right to be concerned.  RA is in my family too, though none of my 4 sisters have it, and neither of my parents did.  It happened to both my grandmother, my aunt, and my cousin (the aunt's daughter), beginning in their fifties - and me too.  I had been having regular bouts of soreness in my wrists and fingers, tendinitis in my shoulder and ankles, TMJ, and neck problems for 20 years. My doctor tested me for RA but thought I just had fibromyalgia.  (I wasn't so sure, knowing the family history.)  The RA factor was positive, but the SED rate wasn't much elevated.  UNTIL :::  Ironically what triggered the first big joint swelling (my dominant wrist) was when an orthopedist gave me a cortisone shot in my hand for thumb tendinitis.  (Cortisone shots elsewhere since have been helpful, don't get me wrong!)   I had pain up my arm for the next 3 weeks and then my wrist swelled halfway up to my elbow!  An MRI of my wrist showed swelling in the bone marrow - ouch doesn't even begin to describe the pain.  And my Sed rate had doubled.   That's when I got scheduled for an appointment with the rheumatologist.

I was diagnosed a little over a year ago at the age of 28.   It took me loosing the function in my right hand to where I couldn't even hold onto a dollar bill before I went to a Rheumatologist.   One of my sisters was diagnosed about 8 years ago.  She suffered from pain in her shoulders for years and went through physical therapy.  She was finally diagnosed with RA.  She has it quite severe.  My great-grandmother also had it and was confined to her bed or a wheelchair in her early 30's.

I recently went back for a check-up and my RA has progressed so my medication has been increased and started on yet another med.  Shortly after starting the new med I ended up needing a cortisone shot in my left wrist due to such severe pain/stiffness that didn't subside after a week.  I haven't had any pain or much stiffness for about a month now. (knock on wood) 

My first symptoms...my fingers and toes curled up and would not open.  I got my fingers to finally open up (darn it hurt) but then a week later it happened again.  After a week I finally went to the dr and they gave me cortisone shots in my fingers and feet.  And told me no way I had RA I was too young (I was 27).  A month later I woke up and my knee was swollen to twice its size, could barely walk, and felt like I had been run over by a truck.  Fianlly went back to the dr and he did some tests (thank god he listened to me!) and sent me immediately to a Rheumatologist.  Was diagnosed a week later with RA.  I have had it 13 years and never been in remission.  Some days I feel ok, and others...yuck.  No other family memebers with RA, just me!

I was about 32 or 33 when diagnosed. I have Osteo in hip. for sveral years.I have been jsing Embrel forclose to 12 years.