I'm new and just wanted to say hello

January 3, 2005

hi everyone,

My name is . I'm 25 on Wednesday. I would like to share my

story, but it might be a bit long..bare with me:) Maybe you all can

see yourself in my story somewhere? I have Rheumatoid Arthritis as

well as maybe Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue (which is think is more of

a problem with being in pain and not being able to sleep, then a

syndrome) and other problems such as Acid Reflux disease and a hiatus

hernia. I was surprised when I found out that RA is typically found in

20 and 30 yr olds.

Anyway, I think I've had symptoms of RA since I was about 14, but

since I was so young they were ignored for quite a few years...and I

also don't have the RA factor, so Dr's assumed I didn't have it. When

I was in high school I would have such pain and weakness in my legs

that I had to crawl up stairs and could hardly stand at times. the

symptoms lessoned during college. I wasn't in stressful activities

anymore like marching band and my pain would only be once or twice a

month. Then about two years ago I really started to feel the pain

everywhere, not just in my legs and feet. I had occasionally had

" tennis elbow " as its called, but until then never permanent stiffness

of the elbows, shoulders, hands, fingers, jaw and the list goes on. It

also became so hard for me to sleep. The pain my upper arm muscles was

unbearable and I didn't know where to place my swollen knees so I

could be comfortable. I also started to develop lumps on my hands and

trigger fingers as well. I finally went to see a surgeon about the

lumps on my hands and he suggested surgery to remove the really big

lump. I assumed it was a Ganglion cyst, but he said he couldn't be

sure until he got in there. So I had the surgery and he found it to be

severe inflammation. Now I realize that some medication could have

helped more then surgery.

I'll try to rap it up now...I'm seeing a Rheumatologist now who has me

on some pretty common drugs..not sure if I'm allowed to mention them

because of the notice on the home page. They seem to be working well,

but I'll find out more this week on how they are affecting my immune

system etc. I look forward to hearing from all of you and if you have

any questions for me I will gladly try to answer them. Thanks for

listening!

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