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Hi

I'm Adrienne from England. I was diagnosed with RA a year ago and in that

time I've been trying to make it go away through changing my diet radically

and taking supplements like fish oils, vitamins and glucosamine.

The attacks have reduced in severity and length but I've just recently

accepted that RA is here to stay.

I'm particularly interested in learning how to live with this disease,

particularly to get some kind of psychological perspective. I've been

reading a fascinatng book called The HEaling Power of Illness by Thorwald

Dethlefsen which gives some insight into illness and this one in particular.

Do any of you feel that at some level we have chosen this illness and that

we can make different choices? I expect I'll offend some of you who have not

come across this concept by saying this; forgive me. Has anyone found a way

to live with RA that doesn't involve drugs?

Many thanks

Adrienne CAmpbell

Re: Methotrexate

Do you guys notice a difference in side effects sometimes from week

to week, or once you get past any initial side effects, is it

generally OK? I've been taking methotrexate orally for about 5 months

now. Some weeks I'm fine...just a little fatigue the next day, but

no nausea. But every once in a while, I'll feel really lousy for

about two days after taking it, almost like I've got the flu or

something. I haven't been able to find any kind of pattern, like how

much water or food I've had. I always take it with food and I try to

drink plenty of water afterwards.

> Hi ,

>

> << One question you asked somewhere in there was about swelling and

itching

> in your legs.  That sound like water retention to me.  When I

retain fluid in

> my thighs, they itch like crazy.  What causes it for me is not the

RA, but the

> meds.  Prednisone and anti-inflamatories are notorious for causing

fluid

> retention. >>

>

> I've definitely been having issues with fluid-retention - it was

one of the

> first things my rheumy pointed out on my initial visit. She put me

on lasix

> (and potassium) right away and I promptly dropped 35 of the 40

pounds I put on in

> 5 months at college - I'm only 5 feet tall, so as you can imagine,

I feel

> *much* better now! It's also nice to have a solution for how in

the world I

> managed to put on half again my original body weight in such a

short amount of

> time. I knew I wasn't eating *that* much....

>

> I digress (as usual). My question would perhaps have been better

phrased, " Is

> there any connection between RA and fluid retention that is *not*

drug

> related? " This comes about because I wasn't on NSAIDs or pred (to

speak of... a

> single two week burst I think?) when the massive weight gain

started. It just

> occurred to me to wonder if this might have in fact been an early

(if bizarre)

> indication of RA - or some kind of fallout due to RA - that I'd

missed.

>

> In any case, there's no doubt that it's fluid and not " true " weight

gain, so

> I guess I can be grateful for that. Being on the lasix has also

resulted in my

> feet looking semi-normal for the first time in about 12 years...

they've

> never been completely normal of course, but they've also had some

weird skin

> issues for a long, *long* time, which now appear resolved. I'd

ascribe the fluid

> retention to the CP, and that may be a minor factor, but till very

recently I've

> always been an ambulatory biped-type creature (i.e. only using my

chair for

> long distances), so I can't imagine that's the whole puzzle... who

knows.

>

> Thanks for the help!

>

> Meg

>

>

>