Re: If RA comes on slow? Kathe

[Guest guest]

HI Kathe,

Thanks for telling my your story on my your RA developed. It sounds

scary the way your symptoms worsened. My hands hurt off and on but

not specific in my fingers yet. I do have arthritic shoulder and my

hips hurt if I use them too much. My rheum is good about checking

me. Each time I see him, he asks if any of my joints swell or get

red & hot like yours. I tell him not yet. If they do get that way I

will contact his office asap. When I first saw him in 1997 he ran

all the RA related blood tests and all were normal. He hasn't

repeated them yet but he is diligent to check my liver enzymes since

I take Lodine for my joint pain. I don't think I will get RA but

it's good to know what to watch out for.

hugs,

Debbie L

Texas

--- In , Kathe Sabetzadeh <lv2ryd@...>

wrote:

>

> Hi Debbie:

>

> Mine, I believe, came on pretty slow. I had aches and

> pains in my hands and fingers (probably a lot like

> what you are having now), but since I was working

> making jewelry for a friend's business, and making a

> lot of stuff on a daily basis, I figured it was just

> that I was working my hands too hard. Well, one

> night, my thumbs began to hurt, and that spread soon

> to my entire hand and fingers - my hands were swollen

> like little red hot and very painful balloons, and my

> feet were swollen too. I could not even sleep that

> night due to the pain.

>

> I went to the doctor next day, was dx a few weeks

> later, and it pretty much stayed in my hands for about

> a year, and then gradually started moving around, to

> my wrists, shoulders, elbows, and then down into my

> legs, especially the tops of my feet and ankles. All

> of this, howevever, took about 5 years to develop,

> whereas some other people's RA comes on literally

> overnight and is in every joint quickly. I have been

> lucky that way, and was able to adjust to the RA

> better, I feel, than someone who had to deal with

> severe and sudden RA.

>

> My joints sometimes get red and swollen, but more

> often I have a lot of pain and stiffness in my joints,

> and have the flares from time to time. You need to

> just be aware that because your mom has RA, you do

> need to have your doctor made aware of it so that

> he/she can watch for any symptoms of RA, and test you

> so that you begin treatment as soon as possible.

> Hopefully, you will not develop RA - not everybody

> with a family history does - and I hope you will be

> one of the lucky ones who does not.

>

> Hope this help -

>

> Kathe in CA

>