Re: Re: W - autoimmune disease from Suzanne - not cp related

[Guest guest]

Suzanne,

I'm glad I was able to help. Yes, most autoimmune diseases are manageable to

some degree. For me, taking plaquenil for my lupus has been a real blessing.

Plaquenil is actually an anti-malaria drug. They discovered accidentally during

WWII that the anti-malaria med given to soldiers with rheumatoid arthritis

helped the RA a lot. They have sense found meds that help more than plaquenil

with RA, but it is still used sometimes for mild RA. For lupus, plaquenil is

typically the first drug they try. It helps a lot with the fatigue, joint pain,

and skin rashes that go with lupus. They've also found that plaquenil can

prevent or at least minimize the organ damage that so often goes along with

lupus. My current rheumatologist feels sure that the reason my lupus has not

become severe is because I was put on plaquenil shortly after my diagnosis in

Oct 96. My sis also takes plaquenil for sjogren's syndrome and she has found it

beneficial for the joint pain and fatigue that sjogren's syndrome causes. I

think it helps some with the dry eyes and mouth that go along with sjogren's

syndrome, too.

I don't want to make you panic, but in my opinion it is important to get an

early diagnosis for autoimmune diseases because so many times the damage can be

prevented or at least slowed with the right medications. Ironically, my

ex-husband's second wife also has lupus. She also has sjogren's syndrome pretty

bad. She didn't go to the doctor about the lupus or sjogren's syndrome for

about 10 years after she pretty much knew she had it. She had an aunt who died

from severe lupus and she has a real thing about doctors. Anyway, by the time

she went to the doctor, her eyes had already been damaged by the sjogren's

syndrome. He eyes had remained so dry for so long that she ended up with

scratched corneas. She still works full time but can no longer sew because she

cannot see well enough to do the close up work. That is a real shame because

she is a very talented seamstress and made all of their daughter's dresses when

she was little. She also cannot see very well when driving at night, so she

does very little driving after dark and even when she does drive after dark, she

only drives to places she is familar with. I know that has to be tough because

my ex works nights and they have a 14 year old daughter (my daughter's half

sister - though I hate using the term 'half sister' - Tori is Nikki's baby

sister and 'half' makes it sound like Nikki and Tori are not totally sisters!

They both think the other hung the moon and I never want to detract from that!

Tori was Nikki's maiden of honor in her wedding and my stepdaughter, , was

the maid of honor. Sorry to get off track on that. It always gets complicated

when I talk about Nikki's little sister and people know that I only have one

child and one stepchild!)

I think I told you that Nikki has RA and also the antiphospholipid syndrome - an

autoimmune clotting disorder that causes your blood to clot too easily. Nikki

only takes mobic and glucosamine chondroitin for the RA, but without those meds,

she really suffers with a lot of joint pain and inflammation. She's already had

one joint surgery. She had a torn rotator cuff that had to be repaired at age

19. They said the RA caused joint inflammation and made it easier to tear the

rotator cuff. I think without the mobic and glucosamine chondroitin, she'd have

a lot more problems and joint damage than she has now. Since they know about

the clotting disorder, she takes aspirin daily and they will watch her closely

when she gets pregnant to make sure she does not develop blood clots in the

placenta and umbilical cord.

Take care and best of luck to you and Joey.

W

alabama