hi ,im john from glasgow

fkmiller

hello everyone, im a newbie.john from glasgow. have had wrist problems for eight years.had two arthroscopies around 3/4 years ago but have just been diagnosed with RA.start my first course of treatment tomorow.salazopryn.ive had a few cortisteroid injections on my rear but last one (2 weeks ago)made no diff.have had the sore swollen wrists now for 6 weeks.i'm hoping you guys can tell me what to expect with the new drugs and stuff.been reading up and its scared me edited.i'm 48.work in construction(architectural glazing) self employed with young family and really cannot afford not to work.any help would be really appreciated.jp

[Deleted User]

Hi,
and welcome to the forums. I'm sorry to hear that you've been having so many problems with your wrists and that you have now been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. It is a great shock to the system to be handed out this diagnosis and I'm sure it will take you some time to come to terms with it.
However there is good news, it is good to hear that you've already been started on salazopryn, this is a good first treatment often used for rheumatoid arthritis, it can take some time before you will feel the benefits of this drug working for you, and sadly it may not be the right one for you and it may take a little while to find the right drug to keep your arthritis under control. Rest assured your consultant will be keeping a close eye on this for you.

It may be worth asking your GP if you can be referred to an occupational therapist to help you to find ways of managing your wrists while you are at work and they are still so painful. There are such things as wrist splints but I would not want to pre-empt what an occupational therapist might prescribe for you as they are the experts in providing aids.

We do also have a great booklet about living with arthritis that you might find useful here is the link https://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/do-i-have-arthritis/publications/222-living-with-rheumatoid-arthritis and we also have a large section on the website about working with arthritis https://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/living-with-arthritis/working-with-arthritis As you are self-employed it might also be useful for you to contact our helpline team on our freephone number which is 0808 800 4050.

Lastly the online community members here are extremely supportive and very knowledgeable so I am sure that they will share their experiences with you and also their expertise. We are here to support you so please feel free to ask as many questions as you need
Best Wishes
Sharon

stickywicket

Hello from me, too, John

That's a very comprehensive reply from Sharon and there's not a lot I can add to it.

There's never a good time to be diagnosed with any kind of arthritis but it must have come as a real blow to find you have RA while self-employed in what I imagine is fairly heavy work when you've a growing family to support.

As Sharon says, and, as I'm sure you've been told, the meds don't necessarily work for some weeks. In fact, they don't necessarily work :roll: It can be a matter of finding the right one(s) for each of us. I take methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine. They do it for me.

Steroids are a mixed bunch. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. I think the more jabs we have, the less they work. The DMARDS, such as salazoprin (sulphasalazine?) do sound scary but, used correctly, with the regular blood tests, they are less likely, long term, to cause problems than steroids. Makers must, by law, lists all potential side-effects of their meds but most of the bad ones are suffered only by people with multiple conditions and on multiple meds,

An Occupational Therapist might well be able to help. Splints for any joint can be useful things but it's important to use them correctly and not overuse them. Physio, to strengthen the muscles, might also help. When a joint aches, even when we exercise it a lot (or maybe especially when we exercise it a lot) it's all too easy to fall into bad habits, using the wrong muscles because then it all hurts less.

I do hope the meds will work and you'll need look no further but there are rarely an quick fixes with arthritis. We often have to prioritise and / or work out how we can do things differently. We become very inventive

fkmiller

thank you for your kind replies.i'm kinda understanding things now re arthritis in general but only know about 1% of things i feel i'l need to know in the future.it's my dominant hand that gets worse atm,my left hand gives me problems but not nearly on the same scale.i also have wear and tear on my knees but after playing football twice a week on astroturf for 25 years i kinda expect that.the steroid jabs do make a diff to my left knee while it does'nt help the wrists and the consultant thinks they are linked to the RA in my wrists.hopefully the meds help quickly with few side probs.it's reassuring in a way to be able to ask questions on here.and i realise i'm minor league when it comes to what a lot of people are going through. i'd gladly go with what i'm experiencing now for the rest of my days if it did'nt get any worse.my doc seems to think we can manage that if we reach the right meds.i asked what if these don't do the trick.he said well we'l just keep trying till we find one that does.anyways,i'm here now and just have to get on.thank you again for your kind replies.jp

dreamdaisy

Hello, I have a different auto-immune arthritis to you (psoriatic), I began on sulph back in 2002, it didn't do anything for me but a friend of mine (who has the same) is brilliantly controlled on just six tablets per day. Neither of us are troubled by side-effects although initially I bruised very easily.

It can take time to find the med that can help, and often we need to take more than one medication, but only time will tell if this will be the case for you. I began my troubles aged 37, I am now 57 so somewhat ahead of you in terms of living with arthritis, but all of us on here understand the difficulties you are facing. Feel free to ask any questions no matter how silly they might seem to be and we will do our best to help. DD

frogmorton

Hello jp and welcome from me too

There isn't much I can add apart from that don't be sacred of your medications

You often don't get the side-effects. They just list them for our reference. I do think interesting coloured urine is almost a given though!!

Try not to worry too much yet at least you are in the system now. Meds are trial and error and can take time to work so the sooner you start them the better.

I hope you'll find the forums as helpful as I have.

Love

Toni xx

fkmiller

frogmorton wrote:

Hello jp and welcome from me too

There isn't much I can add apart from that don't be sacred of your medications

You often don't get the side-effects. They just list them for our reference. I do think interesting coloured urine is almost a given though!!

Try not to worry too much yet at least you are in the system now. Meds are trial and error and can take time to work so the sooner you start them the better.

I hope you'll find the forums as helpful as I have.

Love

Toni xx

hi toni, thanks for your kind reply.and thanks to all who have replied.as it stands just now i feel absolutely terrible.have'nt had a nights sleep for over a week due to the pain in my hand.have only been on meds for two days,ears totally blocked up.helluva cough and generally feel like edited. had a spirometry test on thur and have'nt been right since.have been taking solpadolx2 and ibrufen but its not even touching the pain.tried to book a blood test for two weeks time as requested by doc but no vacancies and have to phone again on monday.im back at work on monday and tbh there's no way i can work feeling like this.i'm considering going to A+e it's that bad.docs been shut for holidays so i've had no pain relief.it's defo the worst my hands ever been.any advice? jp

daffy2

Hi John, just thought I'd post a quick reply as it tends to be rather quiet at the weekend, and I didn't want you to feel that you were being ignored.
I'm in the OA team, but from what I've read over the years on here things like coughs need to be checked out as infections and the meds are not good partners. Do you have access to a rheumatology helpline or nurse?
It might be useful for you to move across to the Living with Arthritis board as more people look at that and so you'd get answers and suggestions more quickly and from people far more 'qualified' than I to help.
I'm sorry you are feeling so rough, and that I can't help other than to send my hope that things will soon improve for you.

stickywicket

fkmiller wrote:

i realise i'm minor league when it comes to what a lot of people are going through.

John, there is no league table of pain. Pain is pain is pain and yours is every bit as important as anyone else's.

You sound to be having a really rough time. Daffy is right about those of us on immuno-suppressants. Because our arthritis is caused, in part at least, by an over-active immune system, the meds we take, such as your salazopryn and my methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine work by dampening down our immune systems. This means that we are more susceptible to infections and also we find it harder to throw them off. Many of us have been told to skip our meds if we think we might be going down with something but this isn't something you should do without medical advice when you've only just started taking them. I really don't think the meds have caused your problems, just exaggerated the symptoms. And the spirometry test shouldn't make any difference to anything.

Solpadol is a so-called painkiller and ibuprofen an anti-inflammatory. They will help with the pain but won't stop it. You're in a bit of a cleft stick right now because the salazopryn won't yet have started to take effect, apart from making your cold symptoms worse. There is stronger pain relief than solpadol but it's a trade off between dulling the pain and staying focussed and alert. Perhaps something stronger for night time right now would help.

I hope your doc can help. Have you been given a rheumatology helpline number to ring? They'd be the best people to contact.