Newbie, 15, Glasgow.

sootisox

Hi,

I'm a complete newbie to the forum. My daughter is 15 and has recently been diagnosed with RA. She has been taking 30mg of prednisolone every day and will be starting Methotrexate (sp?) this Friday night.

It's all happened very suddenly. My daughter had been complaining of stiff and sore wrists for a few months (on and off), we had attributed this to the ganglion operation she'd had on her wrists 18 months before. Xmas 09, she took a turn for the worse, her fingers, wrists and ankles started to swell and became very sore ... she was no longer able to squeeze shampoo from the bottle in the shower in the mornings and was unable to even dress herself (couldn't manage buttons), even door handles became a problem. She had difficulty with stairs and with walking in general.

We were fortunate that we have private health insurance and after the initial blood tests had been completed at the GPs surgery, we were referred to the local private hospital to see the rheumatologist within days and she was diagnosed with RA.

We met the NHS rheumatologist for the first time today who has started her on methotrexate and folic acid. I'm grateful that we managed to get a diagnosis so quickly but feel that the Dr today wasn't that forthcoming with information regarding the treatment, it's side effects or what effect RA is likely to have on my daughter. What side effects can she expect? Would she benefit more from the injection or the tablets? Is there anything else we need to look out for? Is she still likely to have flare ups on the medication? I know nothing of RA in general ... this is a huge learning curve for the whole family and we're still shellshocked!

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide

Jo

malc7747

Hi Jo,

A warm welcome to the Forum from me

I can't help you with your questions but there are plenty of people who will no doubt be able to provide you with answers.

take care
Malc

caprica

Hey Jo,

I can't help with the methotraxate questions because I'm not on it, but just wanted to say hey. I'm 23 and live in Glasgow, and I have inflammatory arthritis. Brand new, since December. So I'm still learning too, this is a great site with lots of helpful folks so I'm sure someone will come along quickly to answer your question.

Are you going to the Royal?

sootisox

Thanks for the welcome!

We've just seen Dr Zoma at Stonehouse Hospital. Hairmyres is our nearest but the waiting list to see the same Dr was much longer. Jade was diagnosed initially by Dr McGill at Rosshall. I've been reading / researching like mad and hopefully have a grasp of the whole methotrexate thing. It doesn't look brilliant, but i'm hoping she'll be one of the lucky ones and tolerate it well.

Jo

salamander

hi Jo, Sorry to hear about your daughter. I had a similar experience to her and have started methotrexate. So far I am tolerating it well and wouldn't really know I was on it, just feel a bit tired sometimes. It hasn't kicked in yet but am hoping it will work. It looks far worse on paper than the actual side effects. I know some people who don't have any.
Good luck with everything.
Sally