Introduction

[Guest guest]

Hello. I'm Judy, I'm a 40-year-old married mom of two boys (ages 9 and 10.5)

and I live in Richmond, Virginia. I'm so happy to have found this group. I

don't know if I'm hoping for advice or others' experiences or just a sympathetic

ear or what, but I'm feeling really low right now.

I haven't received an official diagnosis of RA. My primary care physician

thinks that's what's going on but the labs they've done (rheumatoid factor, ESR,

tests for lupus and gout, etc) have been normal/negative. I saw a

rheumatologist for the first time last Friday and he said it could be that the

virus that I had a couple of weeks ago that triggered this flareup is still

active and is mimicking RA, or it could be that I actually have RA and am just

testing negative at this point? They took blood to do an anti-CCP test at the

office Friday.

This is the second major incident of this type that I've had. The first was

almost exactly one year ago and it was bad enough that it prompted me to seek

medical attention then as well (I don't go to the doctor unless it's pretty

bad!) They did the same basic labwork then, minus the anti-CCP test, with the

same results, and prescribed a variety of NSAIDs until we found one that worked

for me (Diclofenac.) The pain, inflammation, and stiffness was limited to my

fingers/hands/wrists that first time so I was referred to an orthopedic dr, but

by the time the appt actually came up, I was feeling better so I cancelled it.

Since then, there have been several occasions where I've suffered moderate pain

and swelling but it's never lasted more than a couple of days and has been

controlled with the Diclofenac.

Until about three weeks ago. As I said, I came down with a virus. The primary

symptoms were high fever, chills, body aches, fatigue, some diarrhea in the

beginning. It lasted about five days. By the fifth day though, my fingers and

wrists were unbearably painful, stiff, and swollen. This time, my toes were

affected terribly as well. Also, my elbows, shoulders, and right knee. The

pain was just horrid, all I could do was lay curled up in a ball and move as

little as possible. I couldn't even brush my teeth or get off the toilet

without my husband's assistance.

I saw my doctor a couple of days after the joint pain/swelling started. My

joints, especially fingers and toes, were visibly swollen and red, given that

this was the second time this had happened he felt something systemic was going

on. They did labs and I was given a prescription of prednisone, more

diclofenac, percocet for the pain (which honestly didn't help, it was that bad)

and a referral to a rheumatologist.

In the couple of weeks since then, the joint pain has eased to where it's

limited to my hands/wrists for the most part. First thing in the morning my

toes and sometimes elbows still hurt and are stiff but I can live with that. My

hands/fingers/wrists though...I'm so miserable I can't stand it. By about 5:00

am they hurt so badly it wakes me up. It takes a couple of hours after waking

for the stiffness to ease enough for me to do anything more than cradle my

knotted fists close to my body. I'm still having fevers occasionally, and I'm

so exhausted I can't stand it. The Diclofenac has torn up my stomach (I have

GERD and take Nexium for that) and wasn't working anyway, the rheumatologist

wanted me to try Celebrex instead but it's not helping either and I'm still

having chronic stomach pain, loss of appetite, bloating, nausea.

This is really starting to take an emotional toll on me and I feel like such a

baby but it's like I'm in this fog all the time anymore. I can't escape from

this pain for more than a couple of hours. And! I started my period again

today. The second one in three weeks! And I have no chocolate in the house!!!

;o)

Thank you to those of you that have made it this far and listened to me whine.

I feel better just to have gotten it all off my chest at least!

Judy