Hi, I'm new here and I thought I would introduce myself...

[Guest guest]

I'm in my late thirties and was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis,

Sjogren's Syndrome, Reynaud's Syndrome and Hypothyroidism about a

year ago. The worst symptoms seem to stem from my Sjogren's,

however. I do have some swelled joints in my right hand, and I do

have joint pain everywhere, but the symptoms of the Sjogren's are

horrible. Dry everything and very painful.

Anyway, I am not sure exactly what to do about the Rheumatoid. It

has barely begun to " show " and I don't even test positive for it in

my blood samples. Did any of you go through that too? My doctor is

knife happy and keeps asking if I will let him go in to my hand,

right shoulder, left hip and left foot too " see " what's going on. My

response was, if you can't see it on the x-ray and I can still use

my body fair enough, why would I want you to cut me open and go in

so many places. Am I right in waiting on the surgery?

This is all pretty new to me and I'm fairly scared... mostly because

of the Sjogren's. But, I know very well what Rheumatoid arthritis

can do to you... my neighbor has had it for years and has a total of

87 surgeries on her feet alone. That poor woman. So... that scares

me too.

Well, thank you for having me in the group. I look forward to the

posts and participating in the discussions.