Hello, I'm new to the group.

[Guest guest]

Hello, my name is Deb. I'm 46 years old. I was diagnosed with RA in 2001 after a good 2 years of trying to figure out what was wrong. I had negative ANA, Sed rate 2, and negative RA was also negative, but my Xray report of my hands showed evidence of early RA, thus came my diagnosis. I've been taking Methotrexate, tolerating it well.

December, I spent New Years Eve in the hospital with bruises all over me, nose bleeds, and my platelet count at 5000. At the time, I had finished my prescription of Augmenton for a really nasty sinus infection a few day before. I now have ITP, and so far so good, platelets are staying right around 225,000. I weaned off prednisone the first week of March and didn't start my MTX again for another month to see if my platelets were going to hold. It wasn't long and my RA was in full flare and I was miserable, so I was glad to get back on it again. Just knowing it would only be a few more weeks and I would have some relief helped.

Three weeks ago, I went to my doctor about a sinus infection, I learned a hard lesson about waiting to see him when I start to feel sick. My doctor wasn't in, so I saw the PA and as soon as she laid eyes on me, she asked me if I had a goiter. We had never met before. Apparently, I was mistaking a goiter for a small double chin and since I don't have much of a chin, it looks kind of like a small double chin. I had an ultrasound and blood work done, and 2 days later, my doctor called to tell my my TSH was 66.7, normal at 5.5. He started me on Levoxyl and I was to see him in 2 weeks.

I'm starting to feel better. I had my appointment with my doctor and he said my thyroid antibodies were very high, T4 was normal and T3 was low. Another autoimmune disease it seems. I asked my doctor why so many autoimmune diseases and in such short period of time, and he said they tend to follow together with Connective Tissue Disease. I thought, wait, I have RA. I asked him but why? He said underlying SLE. I sat in disbelief what I heard him say, and he asked me if no one had told me that before? I said no, only that I had RA. Uh.. did someone forget to tell me something, or did I not quite understand him correctly? I never heard that I had anything other than RA after the ANA came back negative. I thought Lupus had been ruled out.

I do have many lupus symptoms. Arthritis, rashes, hair loss, fatigue, ITP, anemia, and sometimes mouth or nose sores. But some of those are also symptoms of my RA and thyroid disease. At any rate, I didn't have a very good day after leaving the doctor's office. He also thinks a portion of my thyroid should be removed because I'm having problems with swallowing and other symptoms. I'm confused and scared of what the future holds, again. It wasn't too long ago I was freaked out about having ITP. Now that seems like nothing.

I look forward to getting to know the other members of this group. Thanks for letting me join.

Debbie Mc