New to all of this......

[Guest guest]

Hello, I was recently " diagnosed " about a month ago with what they can

only say is an early autoimmune disease process. Specific huh?

Anyhow, they are leaning toward RA because I had unexplained eye

inflammation all through the summer and fall, and used steroid drops

to help that. Well, when my primary doc did a sed rate, it came back

at 83, not 20 or below. So because that indicated inflammation, he

sent me to a rheum. The rheum. did more blood work and the sed rate

came back at 37, c reactive was elevated and he found anemia. No RF

factor or ANA. I have muscle and joint pain in many areas, but no

swelling or redness. I also have major fatigue after about 4 hours of

being awake and active each day, which is very very new and unusual

for me. The rheum. thinks this is a very early stage of RA, with the

main symptom being the eye inflammation, which, at this time is okay.

But he is having me start Enbrel for about 4 months, hopefully to

knock this out before it gets worse. I'm using the sureclick Enbrel

and did the first one a couple days ago. I could not believe how much

that hurt. It felt like acid going in my leg. Does anyone have any

experience with the sureclick? I'm just wondering if this is just how

it's going to feel each time? Because if it is, I think I'll have

someone knock me out first before my husband injects it again. That

was terrible. Also, has anyone experienced early RA with the main

symptom being eye inflammation? Thanks!

[Guest guest]

Hi Patty,

I did have some eye inflamation in the early stages, but I also had

joint pain going on at the same time.

As far as the Enbrel is concerned, I found that it did sting a bit,

but wasn't too bad for me. But I also know that when I switched to

the twice a week version for a while, it stung _much_ less than the

once a week version.

My understanding is that they have to put a preservative in the

needle of the pre-filled versions, and that is what stings so much.

The twice a week version is a little more of a pain in the neck,

because you have to mix a powder and liquid together, draw it up

into a normal needle and syringe and give yourself the shot, but it

was a LOT more comfortable. For one thing, because the needle

doesn't sit with anything in it, there is no preservative to worry

about, and the needles are also much finer/sharper so they hurt less.

Unfortunately, Enbrel didn't work well for me, but I know it does

for lots of people. Good luck!

--- In , " patty_mommie " <patty_mommie@...>

wrote:

>

> Hello, I was recently " diagnosed " about a month ago with what they

can

> only say is an early autoimmune disease process. Specific huh?

> Anyhow, they are leaning toward RA because I had unexplained eye

> inflammation all through the summer and fall, and used steroid

drops

> to help that. Well, when my primary doc did a sed rate, it came

back

> at 83, not 20 or below. So because that indicated inflammation, he

> sent me to a rheum. The rheum. did more blood work and the sed

rate

> came back at 37, c reactive was elevated and he found anemia. No

RF

> factor or ANA. I have muscle and joint pain in many areas, but no

> swelling or redness. I also have major fatigue after about 4 hours

of

> being awake and active each day, which is very very new and unusual

> for me. The rheum. thinks this is a very early stage of RA, with

the

> main symptom being the eye inflammation, which, at this time is

okay.

> But he is having me start Enbrel for about 4 months, hopefully to

> knock this out before it gets worse. I'm using the sureclick

Enbrel

> and did the first one a couple days ago. I could not believe how

much

> that hurt. It felt like acid going in my leg. Does anyone have

any

> experience with the sureclick? I'm just wondering if this is just

how

> it's going to feel each time? Because if it is, I think I'll have

> someone knock me out first before my husband injects it again.

That

> was terrible. Also, has anyone experienced early RA with the main

> symptom being eye inflammation? Thanks!

>

[Guest guest]

What happens with the eye inflammation? I am having eye problems too and

have an appt. with eye doc tuesday.

Joy

patty_mommie <patty_mommie@...> wrote:

Hello, I was recently " diagnosed " about a month ago with what they can

only say is an early autoimmune disease process. Specific huh?

Anyhow, they are leaning toward RA because I had unexplained eye

inflammation all through the summer and fall, and used steroid drops

to help that. Well, when my primary doc did a sed rate, it came back

at 83, not 20 or below. So because that indicated inflammation, he

sent me to a rheum. The rheum. did more blood work and the sed rate

came back at 37, c reactive was elevated and he found anemia. No RF

factor or ANA. I have muscle and joint pain in many areas, but no

swelling or redness. I also have major fatigue after about 4 hours of

being awake and active each day, which is very very new and unusual

for me. The rheum. thinks this is a very early stage of RA, with the

main symptom being the eye inflammation, which, at this time is okay.

But he is having me start Enbrel for about 4 months, hopefully to

knock this out before it gets worse. I'm using the sureclick Enbrel

and did the first one a couple days ago. I could not believe how much

that hurt. It felt like acid going in my leg. Does anyone have any

experience with the sureclick? I'm just wondering if this is just how

it's going to feel each time? Because if it is, I think I'll have

someone knock me out first before my husband injects it again. That

was terrible. Also, has anyone experienced early RA with the main

symptom being eye inflammation? Thanks!