Re: What to expect.... Paige

[Guest guest]

Hi Paige: Welcome to the group - this place is

family, all are accepted unconditionally, supported

and strengthened by being here. I am 52 and have been

dx with RA for 7 years now (4 of which I have been

with this group - best thing I ever did!). I also

have OA, fibromyalgia and Raynaud's syndrome. For my

RA I have been taking Mtx and Enbrel for about a year

now and it seems to be a good combination for me. I

also take meds for the fibro.

There is no set course as to how anybody's body will

react to RA or any other autoimmune disease. Some

will have more severe RA right away, and some, like

me, will have the ups and downs of flares, but

luckily, since I have always been treated aggressively

by my doctors, I have no radiological findings of RA,

just OA. I think the course depends a lot on your

doctor being proactive in treating your RA

aggressively from the first, and that combined with

the natural course that your body will take when hit

with RA, will give you the outcome, but nobody can

tell you just what that might be. There are many

differentials in this, depending on how you respond to

the different medications out there.

Your doctor has started you out with Mtx and this is

one of the best known and one of the oldest drugs used

to treat RA. You will have to give it at least 3

months to really show that it is working. You should

get good relief from the Prednisone, but this is not

something that you want to stay on for too long, if

possible, although some of the people here have been

on it most of their life, because it gives them a

quality of life they need. I try and stay away from

it because it works on me mentally, and I get really

buzzy, serious, loose my sense of humor, and get

really grouchy and really hungry lol.

I am sorry that you are already noticing some

deformity of your fingers. I do not know if that will

be permanent or not - hopefully with the reduction of

the inflammation and swelling they will align

themselves once again, but I cannot tell you that for

sure. There are many variables, and there are no

absolutes that I know of with RA, course and

treatment, and what the disease dose to your body.

And, yes, some patients will experience deformities

quite early, and this might mean that you have an

aggressive disease process that will hopefully be

slowed by use of medication.

I am a hobbler too if I sit for too long, it's not

that my legs are weak, though, they are just stiff

from being in one position too long. It's called

jelling - when the joints fill with, I believe,

synovium fluid, and become stiff and painful. It

takes a bit to walk it off, and some days I hobble all

day no matter what. Good days and bad days, and you

have to learn to pace yourself, rest when your body

says to, ask for help, and don't overdo. If you try

to fight your fatigue and not rest, it will zap you

into having more pain.

I hope that this has helped some. Your husband is

right - give the medications a chance - and I will be

praying that your fingers come back into alignment

with the medication. There are also splints that RA

patients can wear that will keep their fingers from

shifting as much - maybe one of the othe people here

will be more knowledgeable about that -- or

a, our moderators are great for finding

information!

You have found the right place to come - ask any

questions you want and there will probably be more

than one answer for you - if it is really important

put something like HELP or IMPORTANT in your subject

line and it will catch our attention more quickly.

This is a busy group with lots of emails so it might

take time to get an answer, but you will.

Take care and hang in there - Kathe in CA

--- Paige <paigec38@...> wrote:

> Good morning.

>

> I've been diagnosed with RA for about 2 months. I'm

> on MTX injections for three weeks

> and 5 mg of Prednisone daily. Having watched this

> group for some time, I've noticed that

> some of you have had RA for some time and I'm

> curious what to expect.

>

> I'm noticing some changes that have occurred quickly

> with my fingers and now toes.

> They're going crooked. Perhaps it's the swelling

> that gives this distorted appearance, but I

> believe it's called " ulnar deviation " where the

> index and middle fingers on both hands are

> curving towards my pinky fingers. Meanwhile, my

> pinky fingers PIP joints bulge terribly

> inwards and give those fingers an odd " S " look. Can

> fingers change this rapidly?

> Meanwhile, my toes are starting the same trend.

>

> Other things I'm noticing is that if I'm sitting,

> lying down for a while and then get up, my

> ankles and knees feel like they're ready to give

> out. They lose all flexibility and I hobble

> around like a woman of 80 rather than 44.

>

> My husband tries to reassure me that I need to give

> the medication a chance. However, I

> believe I've read that once joint damage takes place

> it is irreversible.

>

> Many thanks,

>

> Paige

>

>

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