Hello

Jess86

Hi

My name is Jess I'm 24, I was diagnosed by a specialist with none discript inflamatory arthritis a few months ago.
It has been a long time coming as my doctor suspected RA back in June and confirmed with blood test. I rercieved the result on my 23rd bday an it sucked. It took me nearly 6 months from that point to get my appointment with a specalist who kept telling my my life wont change. Lies!!
Since my early diagnosis I have had to chance to an automatic car, stop running, stop drinking and consider moving to a ground floor appartment or a bungalow to avoid the pain of stairs.

I started treatment for RA back in December and things seemed to get better for awhile until my steroid injection wore of since then I have been taking in excess of 15 tablets a day tocontrol my pain, is it me or does that seem excesive?

I am still waiting to see the specialist again but in the mean time I am relying on my GP (who seems fairly useless at the mo) so here I am.

Thanks for listening (reading)

seamonkey

Hi jess86,
You have come to the right place for support and advice, folks on here have helped me a great deal in the few months ive been here, I dont have RA so i cant give advice on that but what meds for pain are you on? They certainly dont seem to be controlling your pain so i would advise go back to GP and ask for something more, My meds keep the pain so most days i can function although odd days pain gets the better of me.
You are younger than me im 32 with 4 children and i struggled alot when first diagnosed although i had trouble for last 12 years. It is very difficult when you have to give up things you enjoy doing, My doc certainly never told me it wouldnt change my life, qquite the opposite, she told me it would dramatically alter my life, which it has. I do hope that when you see specialist again he can help you to take better control of pain etc, tell him everything and how difficult you find things.
I wish you well and some one will be along soon to help you more,
Seamonkey

dreamdaisy

Hi Jess86 and welcome to the forum - I am sad that you have had to find us.

You say RA - what meds are you taking for that? Steroids are only ever a short-term fix and are very damaging to the rest of the body. What sort of pain relief are you taking in addition to the RA stuff? We cannot tell if you are overdoing things unless we know what you are on. If you are taking 15 of the same thing then what you are on is not effective enough and some 'upgrade' may be required. Please bear in mind that pain relief does not remove all pain - I prefer the term pain dullers to pain killers, 'cos dulling is all they ever do.

What joints are affected? How badly affected is your walking? Why did you change to an automatic car? It is difficult to get a clear picture of your current situation with such vague information but I do understand your frustration, irritation and anger. You are far too young for this business, just like all our other younger members. Arthritis is cruel and does not discriminate - the culture of political correctness has passed it by! Please give some more details about you, then I hope I can answer a little better. I wish you well. DD

tjt6768

Hi Jess, welcome from me too, I hope that you are not suffering too much tonight..
Not in a position to advise as I am mainly an osteo sufferer, thinking the RA has maybe joined in too :roll: Will find out more later this month.
Things can go downhill fast but can also settle..
As for the tablets, I cannot really comment, I take 22 per day, I assume that if I do have RA that will be re-assessed at some point in the future

Be well, this is the best place to be for info/advise etc....

seamonkey

Hi Jess,
I hope today you are having a better day, they may be few and far between but they are good when they come. Please post again and let others know a little more about your situation, they really are a helpful bunch and have been great to me and others alike.
Wishing you well
seamonkey

MarkC

Hi Jess, sorry to hear you're having a bad time of it. I'm 26 (27 tomorrow, the day I've got some lung tests because of RA whoop whoop!) and was diagnosed with RA in December last year.

I think I can probably relate to a lot of your problems as my arthritis is yet to be under control, I already had an automatic car but should change it because it's too heavy and causes me pain but can't yet afford to (only bought it in September!) and I've had to give up exercise for the time being - I did the Great North Run in September, at the time I didn't know I had arthritis, I just thought it was a bit weird I had quite a bit of pain in my hands.

You do seem to be waiting for a very long time to get seen by people and the care you seem to be getting isn't up to scratch. It might be worth pressing these people a little when you see them, whether it be your GP or the specialist. I feel very lucky to be living in Leeds as the care here seems to be very good, they see me every month at the moment and I have a nurse I can talk to when I need to. That said, if I don't make a fuss, plenty of doctors are happy to just rush you out of the appointment assuming I'm fine.

I seem to remember the NHS goes on about how you can choose where you get treated, I would say it could be worth you looking into it and making sure you get treated by the best. If other cities in the UK are like Leeds, have a look at what facilities they have. I'd say it's definitely worth some short term pain to get seen by good people as they'll be able/willing to address your problems more aggressively.

Also, like others have said on here, what medication are you taking? Would be handy to know!

Sorry for going on so long, just want to try to make sure everything's covered!

Jess86

Thank you all for the comments.

In response to the questions I changed my car back in September, to start the pain was mainly in left arm (fingers all the way up to shoulder) and also in my left knee and ankle. Since then I now suffer with swelling and pain in both arms fingers to shoulder and legs from my hips down. I have been told that I am lucky it is not in my spine yet.

I am being treated with Methotrexate 15mg once a week, and to combat the side affects folic acid and multi vitamins. For pain relief I am taking Celebrex 200mg twice daily, Amertriptlyne 15mg once daily, Zamadol (slow release tramadol) 200mg daily and tramdaol 50mg 2-4 times daily. I also have an ibroprofen cream , anti-histemin and 2 moisturisers for the skin iffitaion caused by meds. On top of this I also suffer with Raynaurds and so take a blood thinner and have two creams for this as well.
After my last post I did manage to see a GP and it was suggested that I start taking anti-depressants as well, although I have avoid this so far and am seein another GP later today.

Jess86

seamonkey

Hi Jess,
Oh my what a lot for you to take in, my problems are in my lower spine which makes it difficult to be mobile and i also get pain and discomfort in my legs, all the way down to my feet. You are on a lot of tablets and it can take some time to get used to taking so many, i still feel sick some times at the thought of swallowing so many each time.
Some doctors tend to think that when we say the pain is worsening or that the tablets arent working that were just depressed about the situation were in, this really annoys me, yes i get down and really hacked off but its mainly because i get sick of being in so much pain day in day out. Not because im depressed. I hope your other GP helps you more, however if you are at a low point just now and feeling depressed then the GP needs to know.
Take care and i hope your doing ok today,
Seamonkey

Rictina

AWwww sweetheart, I'm so sorry to hear this .. its not easy to accept at such a young age.

You will find great support here, its a fab forum.

frogmorton

Gosh Jess!!

was going to say welcome to the forums from me, but reading your thread you have had arough time of it. That really does sometimes happen to some people. They can do more and will do more over time I hope. Sounds like they haven't got your disease under control yet.

My advice is to keep records and when you see the specialist he should reveiw your meds and either add something else or increase your MTX?
Love

Toni xx