a few questions froma newbie

[Guest guest]

hello all,

still new here and have been overwhelmed with all the info on RA. This is

such a scary disease. I still think I am in denial at times. Especially those

times when I feel kind of OK. I just got over a major flare up, one of my

worst. I could barely walk and was actually sobbing Monday morning not just from

the pain but also from being so darn tired of not feeling good. I go to bed

feeling lousy and wake up feeling lousy, it never seems to end. Now yesterday I

started feeling better and today was almost OK and doing " normal " things

(cleaning the house, playing with the kids. stuff I used to do no problem) it

made me

feel crazy. Maybe I don't have RA. Does anyone have these type of feelings?

On to my question. Did any of you ever try herbal methods of trying to help

yourself? I know that some of these herbs are not regulated and you really

don't know what you are getting but I had to try. At the health food store they

pulled up RA and it showed Evening Primrose Oil as something that alleviates

inflammation of the joints. She also recommended Bromelain(which is a pineapple

enzyme) it is supposed to help in digestion. I guess you could just eat lots of

pineapples.

Then I found this herbalist who has arthritis tea. I of course bought it. It

tastes like hell but they said to drink 2 cups daily and in a week you should

feel the difference. (ingredients- alfalfa,burdock,dandeloin leaf and devils

claw) I hope I am not upsetting anyone by speaking about this. I just so wanted

to find a " natural " cure for this. has anyone ever tried such things and if

so has it helped?

My final question is has anyone ever been to a Nephrologist for their RA? At

the risk of sounding dumb, I do not even know what type of doctor this is. My

husbands friend was at his own doctor and explaining what is going on with me

and the doctor said with me having the possibility of Lupus and RA that is

the type of doc I should see.

We are in the process of switching to more expensive insurance so we will

have a PPO and I will be able to go to the Mayo clinic. Has anyone been there?

We

have heard good things about them but they wouldn't take my HMO.

I look forward to hearing from you all, as a newbie, I am just starting to

find out about RA and have been experimenting with the meds that go with it. So

far I am taking voltaren and Plaquenil but I don't see much of a difference.

My primary doc gave me the methotrexate to take but I chose to wait to see my

new RA and let him decide what I should do. Inthe meantime I am experimenting

with the herbal way.

One more question. I am on Ultram and Lortab for the pain but they don't seem

to be working at all. I cant remember when anything took away the pain. Does

anyone else have this problem?

thanks

sandie