Jeanine to all - Long

[Guest guest]

Boy, what a week! I finally caught up on all of the mail since my last

post. Thank you to all. I have replied to several posts below. I will

keep you all posted on how things are going.

=====

Thank you so much for all of the info. It made it a lot easier for me to

read up on the options. As of now, the labwork was negative, but the pain

still persists and has spread to the fingers and shoulder of her right arm.

She has an appt with a pediatric rhemy on the 4th. Until then, she is

taking Aleeve twice a day. THat seems to keep her from the " I can't move "

level of pain. THe Dr. isn't sure if it is joints or not. She actually

listed it as Reflexive Sympathetic Dysfunction. A kind of vague diagnosis

for now, but referrable to the rheumy anyway for chronic pain. I look

forward to seeing the rheumy (or having the symptoms just dissapear!).

======Kathe,

You are right. That is exactly what I thought. I frustrated me, until I

did some research (Thanks to !) and found out what the differences are

between JRA and RA. Her pain seemed to come in waves through the day with

no rhyme or reason, and she only really complained when there was a task she

didn't want to do! (Typical pre-teen!). The pain is real,though.

The Arava was causing me to have almost constant Diarhea (YUCK!). I had

been having problems off and on, but never this bad. We stopped the Arava

for a week and then halved the dose to 10 mg. I have also lost a lot of

hair. A few people here had indicated that Arava can cause Peripheral

Neuropathy and I have been having a lot of trouble with that as well. My

rheumy denied that it was the Arava though. I wish I could stop the Arava

and just take the Enbrel, but it isn't enough on it's own, and right now I

am in a flare on top of everything else! It is not as bad as the ones

before the Enbrel, so that is a good thing, but it still hurts.

As for your Enbrel - Congrats. I know how long we have to wait for that. I

do my injections in the thighs, and it is more or less second nature. I

used to get huge reactions around the injection and had bruises 2-3 inches

around after each injection. Now, I get much smaller bruises and no real

reaction. I guess the body gets used to it too! It was a wonder drug for

me, and I pray it will be for you too.

Thank you for the prayers.

======a

Thank you. The Neurontan is starting to settle into my system. It helps

most of the way, but I will probably have to add one more pill a day to

truly keep it comfortable. I am not as " drunk " feeling as I was at the

beginning, but the physical stress at the school is really messing the RA as

well as aggravating the post-op pain. The law office has a nice ergonomic

chair for me to sit in, and that makes a huge difference. I spent yesterday

on a field trip to the Miami Seaquarium. The autitisic boy that I work with

was the worst I have ever seen him on a trip! I got off the bus thanking

God that I only have 3 more days at the school!.

=======Ally

Do you have any problem with dry eyes or mouth? Your dry cough and skin

sores can be symptoms of Sjrogren's. Have you talked to your rheumy about

the sores? I don't know if they are exactly the same, but it is worth

looking into.

THANK YOU AGAIN TO ALL!

Jeanine Kinsey