~ Answered Questions from Gale

April 30, 2007

Hi :

I wanted to answer your questions. I'm 45 years old and I started

feeling unwell about 5 years ago after I went through a divorce and

my oldest son left for college. When we would go up to see him, I

noticed that I couldn't walk very far without getting so tired and

fatigued that I'd had to sit down for a while. At first I thought

that I was just out of shape. Then came the stairs. I couldn't

climb the stairs to his dorm room. Again..I thought I was just

getting out of shape. But I just kept getting worse and worse with

each passing day. And long story short I started noticing I was very

stiff in the mornings when trying to get up and ready for work. I

went in for my yearly and told my GYN what was going on and that the

fatigue was like nothing I had ever experienced before. So she

started a series of tests. The only thing that came back out of

order was my RF. But it was only 19. Which I've heard isn't really

that bad. But my symtoms kept escalating, so she sent me to a

Rheumy. Nothing was really out of kilter other than my RF a little

high so that really through him off. Then he ran the anti-CCP and it

came back at 156! At that point I was dx RA.

Now back to your questions: my hands seem to be fine. They do

however get stiff at times and do swell. But my feet is where my

pain really all started. I had X-rays and they showed some small

fractures starting in my toe area. My back and neck area have

started to deteriorate with nerve damage in 5 places in my spine.

Now my ankles and legs swell pretty bad. But the thing that has

really got me worried (this is a new thing) is my stomach!! My

stomach swells really bad all the time. My Doc is concerned with my

med.'s. So he has taken me off of the metho. for now. I do hope too

that is what it is and not another problem!! The only med's I'm on

right now are Humira, Flexeril, Hydrocodne, Folic Acid, Lexapro,

Aciphex and Ambien. ONLY....HA, HA!

After I re-read this....I guess it does sound like RA doesn't it?

It has been a long road and I feel it's still farther yet. Thank

you for any thoughts you may have!

Sincerely,

Gale

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