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[Guest guest]

I have been lurking for about a week now and I thought I might jump

in. My name is Deb I love in Ohio and I have been a RN for almost 26

years now. I have been married for 14 years and have to young

daughters 11 and 8. No one in my family has RA. I quit smoking 15

years ago. I went to my DR for a physical and finally shared some

things that had been bothering me. I kept blaming these symptons on

PMS and pre menopausal symptoms. I am 47 years old.

My #1 complaint is fatigue. I seem to be very tired all the time.

Over the past year my hands don't seem to work like they used to. I

have pins and needles feeling in them. But my joints in my hands

wrists and elbows just ache on a good day and throb on a bad day.

Then when I started thinking about it. I have the same feeling in my

feet. When I wear good supportive shoes with special insoles my feet

feel better. I don't know how to make my hands feel better. It has

become increasingly difficult to do my job. I work in an ICU in a

community hospital.

I have had back pain for many years, work related no doubt and I

don't think it is related to my hand and feet pain. I had a bunch of

labs and xrays of my back done about a month ago. I go to my DR

Monday for a follow up. I had an EMG 2 weeks ago and the Neurologist

who did it told me the EMG was OK no pinched nerves but he said you

may have RA! I was floored. I didn't really evn know what RA was.

Never really dealt with it much in my practice as a nurse.

So of course the nurse in me starts reearching this and I seem to

have many symtoms of RA. It also brought me to this group.

I have just started sharing my halth concerns with a few a work and

with my husband. I feel like a wimp. I have always been a work horse

and now I poop out so quick.It is hard for me to say I can't do

something. I am 47 and feel like I am 87 some days.

I hope to find support and if I do indeed have RA I want to learn and

find the best treatment so I can live a long active life. I need to

keep up with my girls!

Any advice for me before I see my DR on Monday would be appreciated.

We only have one rheumatologist in town and I do not know how good he

is. Thanks for the info.

[Guest guest]

Deb,

It is most important to have an excellent rheumatologist, one who will

treat the RA very aggressively from the beginning (if it turns out that

it is RA). He no doubt will have lots of blood work done, and certainly

should examine your joints. You'll no doubt have to wait for those

results to come back before he knows much of anything.

But anyone with RA needs to be on a DMARD. Methotrexate is one of the

first that many rheumatologists will start with. But know that the

medications they have today are much improved from what they used to

have. I am on one of the biologics, Enbrel, and it works so well that

you can't tell I even have RA. I know that I am one of the lucky ones

in this respect. It usually takes a while and maybe some trial and

error to find the right combination of meds that will help, because

we're all different in the way that we react to them.

Good luck, and let us know how your appointment goes.

Sue

On Wednesday, April 23, 2008, at 09:41 AM, Deb N wrote:

>

> I hope to find support and if I do indeed have RA I want to learn and

> find the best treatment so I can live a long active life. I need to

> keep up with my girls!

>

> Any advice for me before I see my DR on Monday would be appreciated.

> We only have one rheumatologist in town and I do not know how good he

> is. Thanks for the info.