RA and birth control pills
I may have RA. My father has had it for the last 20 or so years and I am just like him in so many other ways. I am a 35 year old female and recently started having pain in several joints (feet, ankles, knees, one hip, wrists). This came on rather suddenly about two months after I stopped taking birth control pills. I went to my family doctor last week and a blood test says I have a positive RA factor. I was referred to a rheumatologist but my appointment isn't for another three weeks. My question is, is it possible ceasing the birth control pills caused my symptoms to appear? And what is the possibility that I would be able to reduce my pain if I started taking the pills again? These are questions for a doctor but I don't want to wait three weeks as the pain gets worse every day. Thanks for your help.
I have had several bad flares after childbirth so I think there is some sort of hormonal connection with RA. We are Catholic and use natural family planning so I don't have experience with stopping birth control pills but it seems as if the premise is the same since birth control pills mimick pregnancy to keep you from getting pregnant. If you choose to stay off of birth control you can work with your doctor to use the least tetragenic medications possible. I am 38 and have 5 children. I use Plaquenil and just started Enbrel. Extreme stress also throws me into flare ups (ie. my mom had a stroke this Spring).
Good Luck and God Bless,
LAK
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yes, yes, yes.....ask your doctor about it. at the time i was diagnosed i did the same thing. quit taking BC pills and had horrible pain in my tailbone. well, after all the years now of meds and learning what know, i had my doctor put my daughter on BC pills (at age 13) to control her bleeding, for her skin and mainly to stall off RA if she's going to get it. i think that's what happened to me without me knowing i was doing a good thing. my dad's mother had RA and it was crippling. my dad died pretty young, 57, so i don't know if he had it or would have gotten it. out of all the grandchildren in our family, i was the lucky one to get it. good luck to you and don't forget to go talk to your ob/gyn...melanie
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Sindie
Monday, August 17, 2009 at 04:42 AM
Hi Melanie
I have been SUFFERING with extreme tailbone pain for 6 months, since I quit the BC pills. I did not make the connection, until I saw your post! Did your dr tell you that this could be related? I have been to see my rheumy for the tailbone pain and he sent me to get a bone scan done, saying it could be due to an injury (i slipped and fell on the side of my bum last year Nov) as he does not believe that RA can affect the tailbone (?). The bone scan did not show anything wrong with the tailbone and I was in so much pain that I just left his office, very dissappointed and unhappy, because the pain was severe. I then put myself back on prednisone and I think it has helped (or the pain is subsiding by itself?). Do you still have tailbone pain? I am now back on the BC pills for 3 days and hoping to find a difference...
I had the same experience have stopping my HRT (hormone replacement therapy) after menopause. I could'nt get my RA Dr. to acknowledge this. I went to another Dr. in another state and he most definitely agreed the hormones play a major part in RA. He put me back on HRT, but the damage during the 6 years I was off them is done and irreversable. I just want to prevent, if possible any further damage. I would advise staying on birth control pills and after menopause, going on HRT therapy. There are risks to both, but for me the crippling effects of RA, far outweigh the other risks of taking hormones. As the good Dr. said Hormones, affect every organ in our body, and I believe him. I hope this helps.