Flares

[Guest guest]

I was wondering when anyone had there first flare. My doctor has

said that my knee ankle and hand are like they are because i am

having a flare I feel it may be my medicine is just not enough or

working right but he didn't want to hear that. Said it was just

fine just work through it Did your doctors give you anything or

just tell you to work through it THis was not the answer i needed

as I need to go to another doctor anyways i told him that i would be

sending for my records he just gave me more of a reason just don't

feel like he cares acts like i am just being a baby thanks for

letting me grip thanks for everything you guys have done

Thanks

Angie

[Guest guest]

i get flare ups every now and then when I don't take my medication or whenever i

get my period. Having flare ups is just all about the arthritis and yeah it

sucks but we people who have it must deal with it every day. I've had it since I

was 13 months old so I know now that I should be taking ALL of my meds. The

first flare I had was when I was just a baby which thank GOD I don't remember

lol.

along302003 <along3@...> wrote:I was wondering when anyone had there

first flare. My doctor has

said that my knee ankle and hand are like they are because i am

having a flare I feel it may be my medicine is just not enough or

working right but he didn't want to hear that. Said it was just

fine just work through it Did your doctors give you anything or

just tell you to work through it THis was not the answer i needed

as I need to go to another doctor anyways i told him that i would be

sending for my records he just gave me more of a reason just don't

feel like he cares acts like i am just being a baby thanks for

letting me grip thanks for everything you guys have done

Thanks

Angie

[Guest guest]

Angie, When I started out withRA, before I even knew what was going

on, it was my hip, then my wrist, then maybe a knee. Never all at

once. My ortho guy figured out what was going on and sent me to a

rheumy. She was pretty worthless once I did some research and

realized she was treating me like a child saying that I have no pain

tolerence and other such nonsence. I felt as if the meds she put me

on were not doing the job and that I was getting worse. I got

myself a second opinion. That made all the difference in the

world. NOW I know what the meds are doing because the RA has

progressed and I get flares. Once I was actually at a tolerable

level of pain, the flairs felt debilitating. I feel like I am

coming down with the flu, and get REALLY tired, and then the pain

comes crashing in. Sometimes I wake up that way. It took changing

the meds around and getting more agressive with them. I still have

flares (having one now) but with this new rheumy, I don't feel like

I am being a crybaby about it. He made all the difference. He gave

me pain meds to help me get through them. He also gave me extra

prednisone to take when I need too. Sometimes doctors who work with

people who have some form of chronic pain can harden to their

needs. That's how my first rheumy was. Don't take it!! It is

NEVER wrong to get second opinions or change docs if you don't feel

like they are helping. Take care and feel better.....Marina in Ohio

> I was wondering when anyone had there first flare. My doctor has

> said that my knee ankle and hand are like they are because i am

> having a flare I feel it may be my medicine is just not enough

or

> working right but he didn't want to hear that. Said it was just

> fine just work through it Did your doctors give you anything or

> just tell you to work through it THis was not the answer i

needed

> as I need to go to another doctor anyways i told him that i would

be

> sending for my records he just gave me more of a reason just

don't

> feel like he cares acts like i am just being a baby thanks for

> letting me grip thanks for everything you guys have done

> Thanks

> Angie

[Guest guest]

originally I thought my first flare was when my wrist was tender and sore and my

doc said it was work related tendinitis. He splinted it and told me to stop

crying. not long after my knee began to swell one day while I was driving home

and before I got home it swelled up so badly I could not drive (I had a stick

shift car and a 2 hour commute) I pulled off and hobbled in for cofee and

thought it might back down WRONG. I actually passed out from the pain a few

hours after my husband managed to get me home and he called an ambulance. They

kept insisting I MUST have injured my knee- thye tried to drain it, got nothing

and sent me home telling me it was in my head. For many months different parts

of me would just begin to swell and turn bright red and cause me intense pain,

so I was screaming just from the air current in the room, but within 24 hours

that spot would back down and another spot would start to swell. Fingers, toes,

wrists, knees, hip, shoulder. I am now wondering of some severe shoulder

problems I had that did not respond to the orthopod for over 2 years might have

also been RA.

I wound up unable to work, and uninsured. On a very few occasions I did wind up

in critical care or clinic but they never really bothered to pay me any mind.

Actually I am starting to think maybe I was drug seeking? I began to research

on my own------and then I called my primary and begged him to refer me to a

rheumy. By then I could no longer walk or use my hands at all, and I was

suicidal at times. I still had no insurance, tho and I have 3 kids , 2 of whom

are also disabled and a disabled husband. The rheumy thought I had some sort of

arthritis, but- I could not afford lab work. SO he began me on samples of

arthrotec, sulindec - nothing helped. He did let me take prednisone for 2

weeks, and thta was like Heaven. then he let me try mtx, but I could not afford

the labs after my first samples ran out and I went 2 years without being able to

go back to the doc. I declined terribly. I literally was bedbound and unable

to hold a glass in my swollen fingers or have any weight on my wrists, my toes

and feet and knees were so swollen, I begged for months to just die.

I finally got my social security disability and my Medicare. The doc then gave

me more samples of mtx and Medicare covered my lab work and finally I was

formally diagnosed.

The mtx made life SO much better. I walk again, slowly, carefully, but I

walk!!! I can again comb my own hair and brush my own teeth and dress daily.

Oh I have to walk carefully and some days I can only comb my hair and not do

much else. On a rare occasion my pain might be severe. I am finding the more

stress I have the worse it is....and yes at that time of the month- it does get

worse. I think it also gets worse in spring and fall (I live in northern IL)

But the good news is my flares now are nothing like how I lived for awhile there

every single day.

[Guest guest]

This stinkin' disorder DOES make you feel like a drug seeker,

doesn't it!!!

> originally I thought my first flare was when my wrist was tender

and sore and my doc said it was work related tendinitis. He splinted

it and told me to stop crying. not long after my knee began to

swell one day while I was driving home and before I got home it

swelled up so badly I could not drive (I had a stick shift car and a

2 hour commute) I pulled off and hobbled in for cofee and thought it

might back down WRONG. I actually passed out from the pain a few

hours after my husband managed to get me home and he called an

ambulance. They kept insisting I MUST have injured my knee- thye

tried to drain it, got nothing and sent me home telling me it was in

my head. For many months different parts of me would just begin to

swell and turn bright red and cause me intense pain, so I was

screaming just from the air current in the room, but within 24 hours

that spot would back down and another spot would start to swell.

Fingers, toes, wrists, knees, hip, shoulder. I am now wondering of

some severe shoulder problems I had that did not respond to the

orthopod for over 2 years might have also been RA.

>

> I wound up unable to work, and uninsured. On a very few occasions

I did wind up in critical care or clinic but they never really

bothered to pay me any mind. Actually I am starting to think maybe

I was drug seeking? I began to research on my own------and then I

called my primary and begged him to refer me to a rheumy. By then I

could no longer walk or use my hands at all, and I was suicidal at

times. I still had no insurance, tho and I have 3 kids , 2 of whom

are also disabled and a disabled husband. The rheumy thought I had

some sort of arthritis, but- I could not afford lab work. SO he

began me on samples of arthrotec, sulindec - nothing helped. He did

let me take prednisone for 2 weeks, and thta was like Heaven. then

he let me try mtx, but I could not afford the labs after my first

samples ran out and I went 2 years without being able to go back to

the doc. I declined terribly. I literally was bedbound and unable

to hold a glass in my swollen fingers or have any weight on my

wrists, my toes and feet and knees were so swollen, I begged for

months to just die.

> I finally got my social security disability and my Medicare. The

doc then gave me more samples of mtx and Medicare covered my lab

work and finally I was formally diagnosed.

> The mtx made life SO much better. I walk again, slowly,

carefully, but I walk!!! I can again comb my own hair and brush my

own teeth and dress daily.

> Oh I have to walk carefully and some days I can only comb my hair

and not do much else. On a rare occasion my pain might be severe.

I am finding the more stress I have the worse it is....and yes at

that time of the month- it does get worse. I think it also gets

worse in spring and fall (I live in northern IL)

> But the good news is my flares now are nothing like how I lived

for awhile there every single day.

[Guest guest]

I upset my poor much younger minister brother one day. I was hurting like sooo

bad and crying, and he said something and I was kinda testy, and I said hey

look, you know that STephan King movie, Needful Things? I would sell my

immortal soul for relief from this pain NOW. Sadly I meant it. It was such a

horrible time. I am SO SO grateful to my God to not be in that place anymore.

Yes, I would have used all kinds of drugs, but- the ER did once give me morphine

for it, and it did not help and they did not believe me.......and after that

they never ever gave me pain relief meds again....only ibuprofen. I used to

gobble them like M & Ms and people would panic and I would look at them and say

well, gosh, this kind of pain, I might be happier dead, gosh what a horrible

thing to think. No, I am not in that place anymore. YAY! NO WAY will I stop

my mtx. NO WAY

- In , " marina_troi " <nefertiti@i...> wrote:

> This stinkin' disorder DOES make you feel like a drug seeker,

> doesn't it!!!

>

>

> > originally I thought my first flare was when my wrist was tender

> and sore and my doc said it was work related tendinitis. He splinted

> it and told me to stop crying. not long after my knee began to

> swell one day while I was driving home and before I got home it

> swelled up so badly I could not drive (I had a stick shift car and a

> 2 hour commute) I pulled off and hobbled in for cofee and thought it

> might back down WRONG. I actually passed out from the pain a few

> hours after my husband managed to get me home and he called an

> ambulance. They kept insisting I MUST have injured my knee- thye

> tried to drain it, got nothing and sent me home telling me it was in

> my head. For many months different parts of me would just begin to

> swell and turn bright red and cause me intense pain, so I was

> screaming just from the air current in the room, but within 24 hours

> that spot would back down and another spot would start to swell.

> Fingers, toes, wrists, knees, hip, shoulder. I am now wondering of

> some severe shoulder problems I had that did not respond to the

> orthopod for over 2 years might have also been RA.

> >

> > I wound up unable to work, and uninsured. On a very few occasions

> I did wind up in critical care or clinic but they never really

> bothered to pay me any mind. Actually I am starting to think maybe

> I was drug seeking? I began to research on my own------and then I

> called my primary and begged him to refer me to a rheumy. By then I

> could no longer walk or use my hands at all, and I was suicidal at

> times. I still had no insurance, tho and I have 3 kids , 2 of whom

> are also disabled and a disabled husband. The rheumy thought I had

> some sort of arthritis, but- I could not afford lab work. SO he

> began me on samples of arthrotec, sulindec - nothing helped. He did

> let me take prednisone for 2 weeks, and thta was like Heaven. then

> he let me try mtx, but I could not afford the labs after my first

> samples ran out and I went 2 years without being able to go back to

> the doc. I declined terribly. I literally was bedbound and unable

> to hold a glass in my swollen fingers or have any weight on my

> wrists, my toes and feet and knees were so swollen, I begged for

> months to just die.

> > I finally got my social security disability and my Medicare. The

> doc then gave me more samples of mtx and Medicare covered my lab

> work and finally I was formally diagnosed.

> > The mtx made life SO much better. I walk again, slowly,

> carefully, but I walk!!! I can again comb my own hair and brush my

> own teeth and dress daily.

> > Oh I have to walk carefully and some days I can only comb my hair

> and not do much else. On a rare occasion my pain might be severe.

> I am finding the more stress I have the worse it is....and yes at

> that time of the month- it does get worse. I think it also gets

> worse in spring and fall (I live in northern IL)

> > But the good news is my flares now are nothing like how I lived

> for awhile there every single day.