27 and recently diagnosed with RA

Amy86

Hi there

My name is Amy. I'm 27 and have recently been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis which affects my hands, feet, knees and neck after months of intense pain and swelling.

I have now been on methotrexate for 6 weeks and would be interested to hear from fellow sufferers on how they have coped with their diagnosis and medication?

It's been a bit of a blow to be diagnosed at such a relatively young age so I'm keen to chat with others and share problems/advice x

ironic

Hi Amy,
What a shock for you, I am so sorry you have been diagnosed with RA. Mine also started with my fingers, hands, wrists and feet. In hindsight I had had it for a good few years but like you I persevered, (one day one finger would be swollen, the next day a different one etc). I used call it my dancing pain as each day was different.
How did I react when I got the news, well I cried and howled at the moon and did the why me! I did the classic internet research....bad move, frightened myself witless. Always stick to the official sites, this one has some great information, look on the publication and resources heading at the top of the page.
I was naive enough to think that I could manage without meds at first and tried the herbal route then finally agreed to go on Hydroxychloroquine. (Had to be the one with the longest name)! They did work after about 16 weeks of taking them but I had to progress to 10mg of MTX tables increasing over time to 17.5mg. I was one of those who always felt sick on the tablet form and in January this year I am on the injection form of MTX which has been a big turn round for me.
I hope you are beginning to feel the benefit of MTX but dont be too disheartened if it takes a bit longer.
Welcome to the forum Amy, I am sure you will find it informative and helpful.
Gentle hugs,
I x

maria09

Hi Amy
Welcome to the site everyone is so helpful,kind and supportive
I don't have RA but I have spondylo arthropathy a type of inflammatory arthritis plus Osteo arthritis
Best wishes
Maria

Amy86

Thanks very much for your welcome messages, I'm delighted to have found the site!

I am about to increase my dosage of methotrexate from 10mg to 15mg so will see how that goes. I also get the sick feeling on the day that I take the tabs but haven't found it to be too unbearable (yet!). I'm off to hospital next week to have a steroid injection directly into two fingers and actually looking forward to it so I can get some relief from the pain and swelling! I've found since having a general steroid injection that the other areas have improved a lot but I only had a couple of weeks relief in my right hand as this is where I experience the most pain and swelling.

I have been having a good read through information on the net and you're right, you do come across some weird and wonderful information! :? However, intending to keep on gaining knowledge on the condition and just taking every day as it comes just now.

Thanks again for the kind welcome into the forum! x

dreamdaisy

Hello, it's nice to meet you. I too take meth (mine is 15mg but in the injected form) and I am fortunate in that I don't get too much in the way of side-effects. If you take your tablets later in the day you may find that you sleep through the worst of the nausea, but if that doesn't help I used to find that a full fat cola would help ease the 'icky' feeling.

When you have the steroid injections please try to rest your hands as much as possible for 48 hours to allow the jollop to sink into the joint and really get to work. A general depo may not help specific areas, that's more designed to be a general pick-me-up, and be warned: sometimes steroids work beautifully and sometimes they have very little effect. Good luck with them and I hope they help - please let us know how you get on, yes? DD

Amy86

Hi DD, nice to meet you too!

I will try out the cola next time I have the sicky feeling - thanks for the tip!

I'm off to the hospital next Thursday and will be sure to let you know how I get on!

X

dreamdaisy

I hope the cola does the trick and I wish you well at your next appointment. I've had another thought - are you taking any folic acid? DD

Amy86

Yeah, I'm on 5mg of folic acid per week. Due my next set of blood tests on Thursday too so it's not shaping up to be the most enjoyable of days! :? Oh well, whatever helps eh?

barbara12

Hello and welcome Amy sorry this is late..and I wont be much help. I have OA...but I can offer my support.
if you have any questions you post them in LWA and I am sure someone will be along to help...hope to see you posting more very soon x

Suzylou

Hi
I am new on here, and was diagnosed when i was 25, now 33 - so kinda know how you feel. Have been on metotrexate injections 20mg for five years and worked really well for me and even joined a gym to get fit again.

Would be nice to talk and share experiences.

Suzy

Amy86

Hi Barbara and Suzy, thanks for the messages.

Suzy, I would be really interested in chatting with you as I'd really like to speak to someone of a similar age and share experiences.

I was in hospital yesterday having a steroid injection in my right hand to try and help the pain and swelling, which is particularly bad in two of my fingers. I have to say, an injection into your knuckle is not pleasant! I'm not feeling any difference yet but my last general steroid injection took a few days before I felt the benefit so fingers crossed I'll wake up tomorrow with a nice non-swollen set of fingers!

dreamdaisy

I hope you're not crossing your 'done' fingers. I reckon that having steroid injections anywhere are not fun, I dreaded having my knees done. Have a look at some of the other boards on the forum - not many people visit this one, most hang out on the LWA bit, Living with Arthritis. Barbara has just had a hip replacement and she's doing brilliantly post-op.

Hello Suzylou, it's nice to meet you and I hope we can help with information and support. I have psoriatic and osteo arthritis so I have a creaky foot in both camps. DD

Boomer13

Hi Amy;

I'm just reading your posts now. Nice to meet you and sorry you are finding out you have RA so young! At least you are diagnosed and starting treatment in a timely fashion. Like DD, I have psoriatic arthritis and osteo. Diagnosis and proper treatment can take ages for some of us. I take meth to help my joints and have been taking it for 6.5mths with mixed results, however, a friend of mine with RA took it for 20 years with brilliant success! Hopefully, that will be the case for you too. I have a lot of nausea and fatigue as well as other 'minor' side-effects, so have to say it is not my favorite day of the week when mtx-day rolls around! I will try DD's cola treatment next week...

I have had steroid injections into both wrists; one worked immediately, the other was placed a little too close to a nerve so traded one kind of pain for another. Like DD advised, really take it easy after the injections. It can be soooo tempting to go using newly-mobile joints but you really need to rest them to get full benefit . The first round of injections didn't help for very long, but I was still working then and doing a lot with my hands. The second injections (~1 yr later) worked really well for a long time, but I had left my job by then so was doing a lot less.

Take care & hope you have luck,
Anna

Amy86

Hi Anna

Nice to meet you! I'm so happy to hear of your friend having had great results on the mtx, it's always nice to hear of a success story. I really hope that this will also be the outcome for me

It's now been 3 days since having my steroid injection and I'm disappointed to say that I haven't noticed too much of an improvement on diagnosis, I was given a general steroid injection which made a huge difference and returned my fingers almost to normal (along with the rest of my aching and swollen joints!) after a couple of days but sadly, the effects only lasted around 7-10 days. I'm back to see my rheumatoid physio in 2 weeks though so maybe she can offer me something different/stronger. It's all very much trial and error for me at the moment, being in the early stages.

I'll keep you updated