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Hi my name is Orietta,

I am from Australia and am 38 years old. I have been diagnosed with RA for

about four

years now. I have been on Sulphasalzine initially and it turned out that I was

allergic to

sulphur based drugs. I was very sick. Went for a little while with no meds due

to needing

to give my body a break from drugs. I then went onto Methotrexate and arava. I

was

allergic to the arava. Then onto Plaquanil. But lucky me allergic to that too.

For both

arava and plaquanil I was on it for about 8 months and then came off only taking

Methotrexate and anti-inflamatory meds and occasionally prednislone. So to add

to

everything I then developed an allergy to the methotrexate. I developed alot of

stomach

pains. I also developed a rash all over my body. After a long wait I went onto

Humira.

Was on that for 8 months with no relief so I am now on Enbrel. Fingers crossed

that will

work. I am also about to start up Methotrexate again but this time an

injection. The Dr

thinks I will be able to " stomach " that.

I have two daughters my oldest is nearly 12. I do triathlons and am part of a

women's tri

group where i try and train on a daily basis. I did a tri on the weekend and

placed second

in my age group and third overall. I work at a hospital and also at a

univeristy. I am also

studying and trying to complete my masters.

I have read quite a few of the posts and I understand all the things people have

been

talking about. I suffer from fatigue and very sore joints. My ESR and

C-reactive is always

perfect so it makes it difficult to justify changes in meds. But my joints are

visably swollen

and am always falling over due to muscle mass lost.

My question is more about coming to terms with RA. I find it very hard to tell

people that

there are times where I am not well. People generally think I am lying as it

looks like I do

so much and I generally look fit and healthy. The worst person is my mother in

law and

she thinks I don't have RA and am just trying to get out of house work. Now I

know I

should just ignore these people but it does get depressing especially when all

the tests I

have come back as normal. Has anyone else had similar experiences and how do

they

manage?

Cheers

Orietta