Newbie...

[Guest guest]

to the group, not the RA or Fibro! I'm Dennis and I've had RA since 1990. It

showed up after I spent the Christmas season getting ready for a seminar for

my reps and didn't have time to go to the Dr to treat the flu I had at that

time. It finally went away around the middle of Jan, and the Ra showed up in

early March. I've gone downhill since then.

My mother, and at least 2 of her sisters, had it also, and I can't imagine

how much they had to suffer without the latest meds. So far, I'm the only

sibling to have it, and I hope none of them get it. I've been home-bound

quite often and was in bed for about 6 months during the first few years.

For some reason, most of my symptoms are in the muscle and soft tissue, not

the joints. X-rays don't show much damage to joints except in my neck. I

still don't understand that.

I changed Rheumatologists this year since the old one moved away, and this

one had a plan for me to get my body under control and get off the

Prednesone and back to work. It was a good plan..., except my body didn't

listen to him. I've gone up from .4cc MTX orally, to 1cc injected, but still

have the same problems. I had to stop my anti-inflammatories because my

kidney function is going bad. My creatine level went up (supposedly) because

of an additional blood pressure pill, so I've been in lots of pain since

then. I just started taking a small amount of Clinoril this week and stopped

the new BP med. I'm having my blood work done next week and hope to have a

much better report.

I expect my future posts won't be this long.

Dennis