Suggestions/someone to listen!

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone, I'm new to the group and wanted to knoww what I should

do next!I started having alot of pain 2 yrs ago, shortly after

having my daughter... I just pushed it off to work realted injuries

and muscle pulls(I'm a LPN) ... Mine started in my shoulders I use

to find it really hard just to lift her.. then it moved to my toes

and feet and for a long long time it really hurt just to walk..

Then it moved to my fingers and my hands some of my knuckles got

really swollen and out of shape and painful, then it moved to my

knees..... one thing after another. After it got to my knees

everyone got after me to go to the doctor. Unfortunately our family

dr had left and there was no one to replace with.. so I went to the

walk in clinic they offer she sent me for x rays and put me on

artortec. At the time the xrays didn't show anything so no one

phoned me about anything .. so a while later I broke out into a rash

and had to see the dr again luckily enough I got the same dr.. she

then suggested physio.. I said I would try it... I went to physio

and they said there was no injury but they noticed the

fluid/swelling and heat that I was mentioning in my knees and toes

and hands.. they then wrote a letter to a dr at this clinic and I

went back to walk-in clinics again! This time I got a really good

dr.. sent me for bld. work right away .. and more xrays this time

the xrays showed systemic dengeneration in my hands and the bld.

work at first seemed to be a chance of Lupus. Futher testing of my

bld. work showed it wasn't Lupus so she phoned a rhematologist and

got me in to see one within days.. She assessed me and said she

thought it was psoriatic arthritis b/c of the way my fingers and

toes were appearing... She put me on 7.5 mg metotrexate and 2.5

folic acid and 100 mg froben bid .. that worked for a while... but

it still ended up getting worst... that was in July by August 2003.

Septemeber I ended up off work for 6 weeks. I couldn't do anything

anymore they incresed my metho to 15mg and still froben 100 mg bid

and 1 mg folic acid. Then sent me to see another rhemy in

november... he gave me injections in my elbow and wrist he thinks

that I have rheumatoid arthritis. He was concerned as they increased

my metho wrong so I had to wait another 6 weeks to see if that was

going to work this time... For a 3 week period I never had a pain I

felt like a new person.. It was great! But it didn't last long. I

saw him again on the 3rd feb and nothing seems to be workiong so

now I have to be admitted to the Rhemuatic Disease Unit in the city

4 hrs away from home without my daughter to be assessed so they can

start giving me injections everywhereand rest. So I am waiting to

go there araound the 1st of March.. And the possibility of starting

Enbrel. I'm not totally sure I like the sounds of the side effects

of the drug.. Can anyone offer any suggestions as to what they are

finding good? And of course there is also the cost the Dr is saying

Enbrel is going to cost.. It seems to be one thing after another!