Hi. I'm new. Hope I am doing this right.

[Guest guest]

My name is Rennie. I will be 46 in February.

Here is my story.

At the end of May 09 I started to have a miscarriage. During the 6 day ordeal I

had low grade fevers and broke out with a rash ALL over my body.

On the 6th day I ended up having a D & C and then went home within 24 hours. While

in the hospital I was tested for Parvo and Mono to see if that's what the rash

was. I went home with some muscle weakness in my legs but that went away in

about 2 days and wasn't anything really earth shattering.

I had the rash for about another 6 weeks before it totally went away. I

attributed it to stress from the miscarriage and moving halfway across the

country.

Dec 18 2009, I was sitting at my sewing machine making aprons for my daughters

for Christmas. All of a sudden I started to feel achy and feverish. I went to

bed and life as I knew it changed.

On the 19th my fever was hovering between 104 and 102.5. I thought I had a bug

and kept taking tylenol to bring down the fever. By Sunday the 20th I was in the

ER because the fever was still so high. They diagnosed me with a UTI. I NEVER

had any symptoms of a UTI but took the antibiotics and went home.

Monday the 21st I woke up unable to move on my own. My daughters had to take me

to the restroom. My fever was still 104 and I went to see my Primary Care

Physician who sent me back to the hospital.

I was there from the 21st to the 25th. I had every test possible. I had chest

x-rays, cat scans, blood work, all kinds of stuff. One infectious disease doctor

said he thought I had Still's Disease. The rheumatologist assigned to me

disagreed and would not make the diagnosis. She thinks the symptoms have come on

TOO fast. What does that mean?

My white cell count was something like 38,000. I had RA and Lupus

tests...negative ANA. I had the cat scan and had an oncologist come in and tell

me on Christmas that he thought it might be possible that I had Lymphoma because

my spleen and all of the lymph nodes in my trunk were enlarged.

I went home on Christmas night not any better off than I was. SEVERE muscle

weakness continued to the point that I still needed help to move in bed and get

to the restroom. I live in a 2 story house and getting to my bed took a miracle.

On Dec 22 I had a bone marrow biopsy. It came back negative for Lymphoma thank

goodness. Last week I finally went to see a neurologist who did an EMG. The

Rheumatologist thought I had Dermatomyositis but I do not!

I still have EVERY symptom for STILL'S but she will not diagnose me with it or

treat me for it.

Right now I am on 40 mg of Prednisone. It helps me function during the day to go

up and down the stairs, wash a dish, small household chores but I do not have my

life back. It's been a month today.

My uncle who is also a physician thinks I should be started on Methotrexate and

Humira and that within a few weeks I could be back to almost normal.

Here are some questions I have for the Still's world out there.

How long did you suffer your initial symptoms before diagnosis?

What medications are you on?

How long was it before you felt like you were back to " normal " ?

Any help is greatly appreciated.