Need a hand..... help with my hands....

[Guest guest]

Happy New Year!

I am really struggling with continued pain in my hands. I am on week 6 of

injectible

methotrexate and am currently 5 mg. of prednisone. The prednisone use is to

help with

the pain and swelling until the methotrexate kicks in. However, despite both

medications,

any extended use of my hands results in pain and swelling.

Am I hoping for too much too soon? I've read many books on RA which state that

other

medications are often added to methotrexate for maximum improvement. I'm

scheduled

to see my rheumatologist next week and will discuss the same with her.

I also have noticeable distortion of my fingers which have occurred in the past

few

months. Both index and middle fingers are curving towards the wrist on both

hands. I

believe this is called ulnar deviation. My pinkies are almost " S " shaped -

although I think

it's because the joints are so swollen. My concern is that this happened so

quickly. Is this

joint damage that has already taken place?

Many thanks.

Paige