Dave F.

[Guest guest]

Welcome to the group Dave. I am still pretty new to all of this. I was

diagnosied 3 yrs ago this August. I think I suffered for nearly 2 yrs before my

diagnosis with just thinking I had overdone something and that was the cause of

my joint pain. The fatigue I assumed I was just again overdoing it and

working to much overtime.

I am on Enbrel, Prednisone 5mg, Bextra, Folic acid 5mg, Leukovorin,

Methotrexate injections 17.5mg weekly, mutli-vit, B-vit complex, calcium/vit-d,

magnisium, zinc, evening primrose oil, Nexium, Actigall and reglan. For pain I

take

as needed: Tylenol Arthritis, ultram or darvocet. I also have sonata,flexeril

or trazadone for sleep.

I started my DMARDs journey on Arava, pred and Bextra and it worked well for

a year. Then my RA progressed and got far more agressive. The arava was

stopped and I started on Methotrexate pills. I had serious side effects to

include drug induced pneumonitis (lung involvement). I stopped the pills for a

month and restarted with Methotrexate injections. During that time I was on

prednisone while I waited for things to improve. I still get bad mouth, throat

and

eye sores. So I take the high dose of folic acid as well as once a week dose

of leukovorin before I take my Methotrexate injection.

Without my DMARDs I would essentially be crippled as I like most people have

very aggressive RA that is following the prediction and trying to do the most

damage in the first 5 yrs!!! My RA did not start out as aggressive..but left

under treated and then undertreated it went from mild to severe in one year!

Now my doc and I have battled for almost a year to find the right combo to get

me under control and stop the joint damage.

Since being on meds I had one remission that lasted about 4 weeks. I had to

come off most of my meds to have surgery last month. I have just restarted.

I understand your apprehension but do not delay to long. Once the damage is

done it is not reversible. I don't know how old you are but I was 36 at

diagnosis and I am now 39. I am far to young to be crippled in wheel chair in

the

next 2 yrs.

My rheummy doc carefully monitors my bloodwork every 2-4 weeks. It depends

on how I am doing. We do annual hand, foot, hip and back Xrays. These are the

areas showing the most damage.

If I had to chose a drug to start on I would go with one of the Biologics

DMARDs. They seem to be the least harsh with the least side effects. The

traditional DMARDs can rage from mild to strong side effects and require lots of

medical monitoring.

I try desperately to stay off prednisone. It is bad for the bones by robbing

bones and teeth of calcium, causes me GI upset and over long periods of time

can totally ruin your adrenal glands and leave you steriod dependent!!!! It

also causes weight gain, water retention, moon face and dowengers hump! I

think you will find most here on the group will tell you long term steriod use

is

a bad thing!!!! Steriods for short term can be life savers....long term is

not a good thing.

It will take you and your rheummy doc time to find the right combo of meds

that work well for you. I would aggressive to find that right combo.

toni

RA, OA and fibro

In a message dated 6/6/04 5:22:13 PM Central Daylight Time,

writes:

> Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2004 15:05:03 -0700

> From: " dave francis " <hbdave@...>

> Subject: Re: Re: seeking friends- from a " newbie " (kinda long)

>

> Hi a,

> From whateveryone tells me DMARDS are the way to go, versus

> prednisone..however I am still hesitating..might I suggest finding the web

page from

> Hopkins, that I did .. www.hopkins-arthritis.org/rheumatoid/rheum_treat.html

> .. it's mainl written for doctor's (lotta very detailed & high education words)

> .. but alot of it is written in language that those of us that are

> intelligent, but not so highly educated as a doctor, can understand .. It

gives the

> run down on 'all' drugs now available for the treatment of RA ..

>

> Check it out .. Dave F.

>