a message for newbies.

[Guest guest]

Hi

One and all

Just thought I would write and let you know how I'm getting on, as I had not

done so for a few months.

Firstly I would like to say that my PA is so much under control that I

forget i have it some times !! Like the other day when out playing Soccer

with my little guy and instead of kicking the ball, I kicked the table leg

instead (ouch!!) but the great thing was of course that i'm now getting

pain from doing things like that instead of from the Dreaded PA. My Rheummy

does not want to see me for another six months as he is happy with all the

inflammation scores etc . nearly Normal which is wicked ! He even wrote on

his report that I was a healthy fit male ! which I wouldn't have dreamed of

thinking last year. He asked me to do numerous bends, and touching of the

toes etc which I had no problem with, again all very good news! The even

better news is that i'm feeling so confident that I might even consider to

start playing soccer again on a regular basis (now wouldn't that be

something!) I have a tournament coming up soon, and I'm in training now to

take part (fingers crossed).

The reason I'm telling you all this is to give some of you newbies hope !!!

I came to this board about two years ago, and at that time I was on the

verge of thinking my life was over ! my pain was numerous, my outlook, to me

was bleak, and I felt that nobody understood..(sound familiar)

Thank god for this site ! It gave me the courage to get off my ass and face

up to the biggest challange of anyones life which is to overcome disaster

(and make no mistake , to me this was a disaster! ) My life up until then

had been fun and filled with activity, my kids had a dad who was up for the

role, and wanted to fufill his fatherly duties, but one fine day back in

June 2002 this was snatched away from me. The pains started and i was in a

hell of a state, I couldn't even get out of bed? how the hell was I supposed

to play with the kids and get to work etc! I searched everywhere for answers

and finally stumbled upon this site and then it all made sense (It didn't

make it better)the thing is it gave me Information to question my GP and

then my Rheummy, and because I'm a stubborn kind of Guy who is not easily

put off by Pushy docs etc I got onto a drug that I demanded to be put on

which was Arcoxia even though the Rheummy was thinking of other things

(Cheaper) And I think within 3 days my pain had gone down about 30-40%. The

only reason I knew about ARCOXIA was because I was worried about ulcer's etc

especially after reading posts on here. And done some research on here and

the wider net about COX 2 drugs (much better on your stomach ). Then after

reading another post from this site I read about a herb called cat's claw

that was supposed to have beneficial effects on Arthritis related symptoms.

again done some research and asked some questions and then decided to give

that a go. about six weeks later my pains had gone down by another 15%. I

had helped myself and had got lucky! they both were having an effect on my

system. I had been considering MTX at one stage and even have them in my

cupboard at home along with the folic acid, I like to keep them there to

remind me to remain positive about PA. So my story with PA goes on and for

now I have the little bugger under control. My message for all you newbies

who feel like their is no hope is that their are some successes with this

thing, that don't involve 18,000 $ a year drugs. and that we have all been

in the same situation as you guys with the Pain and heartache, but keep

looking for that thing that will help you, and don't get depressed when the

drug you are currently on doesn't seem to work because their are 100's out

there ! and it's just a matter of playing match up with the one that works

for you!

The other thing that I enjoy, is looking into the new technologies and

research that they are coming up with for our diseases, and believe me when

i say that the future is bright, very bright! There are so many new things

in trials at the moment that it is hard to keep up with it all There are

Oral TNF drugs that are looking very good in stage 1 and 2 trials, there are

new Anti TNF drugs that are nearly ready to market, There are drugs that

re-train the T- cells to stop there attack, by getting rid of all the white

cells and starting again.Their are anti Rank-L Drugs wich may be better than

the anti TNF ones!! there are Vaccines in production that have been shown

to work on the HLA sequence and are actually stopping the attack on our

Joints as the immune system now recognises it's own cells! and their are

other theories being tested on mice etc that are to do with Stem cell

research. I think we will get to a stage in the near future where Arthritis

becomes a much more treatable disease and where the exception will be what

we now think of as normal for athritis. I really do hope so!! for all our

sakes.

The one thing about this site that I have found, is that I wish people who

are having successes would come back and post a bit more often, as it can

sometimes seem to the reader that PA is all doom and gloom ! I promised

myself I would keep in touch with this group even if things get better and I

hope to continue to do so .

Micky

London

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