Hello! I read your reply on my previous post on what age you we diagnosed and wanted to tell you - when I was first diagnosed at age 16 I was suffering a lot. A year later I was in remission and my arthritis came back worse than ever 5 years ago. I wish you luck with everything and hope the treatment woroks for you. Hopefully itll pass and wont bother you for long.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Bay :wave:

hey there thx, i sure hope it passes to, im currently on a medicine called plaquenil he said its very slow and i havnt been taking it long enough for it to be in my system, but i hope it works

Hunny - I have been taking that for the past 4 yeaars and it hasn't done anything for me. Hope it works for you. If you need someone to talk to or just need to vent know that I am here for you.

Bay :wave:

it hasnt done ne thing for you? I hope it does work for me, the only time i really hurt is late at night and when i wake up, my wrists and fingers hurt so bad, and my feet and knees also, but as the day goes on seems to loosin up a little bit more, i just hope it works . :wave:

Thats Arthritis for you hunny........I have to sleep with some kind of "cast" made for my hand because when I wake up its so stiff.

Keep me posted on how you are doing - I am curious.

I have Arthritis all over; my feet, knees, shoulders, arms, wrists & fingers nd the list goes on.

Whats important is to keep positive and otherwise stay healthy.

Ive been told swimming is good for Arthritis and going to the gym with a trainer is GREAT!!

Speak to you soon babe!

Bay :wave:

i didnt know swimming helped, i havnt been swimming in a long time ill have to try it, but im just curious how old are you and where are you from? I have the arthritis in my knees and feet and its the worse in my wrists and fingers and it gets on my nerves.

Hey Mark,
I totally understand where you are coming from. I am 25 years old and currently living in Montreal.

The past few weeks I have been suffering mainly from pain in my feet and toes.

I never tried swimming but my Grandma keeps sending me articles on Arthritis (I guess its something we have in common :p ) and I read a couple of times that swimming helps.

Speak to you soon hun & hope you feel better!

Bay :wave:

well in a week im going to the beach, so i will be getting alot of swimming in then, do you know how long this plaquenil is suppose start working, i heard it is a minimum of 4 weeks b4 it starts working.

Have fun at the beach on your vacation. I am not sure how long it officially takes to start working.......when I was first diagnosed the Dr. had to try a number of different medications until she was able to find the combination that worked for me (this was back when I was 16); once I started taking it I started feeling better within 2 weeks.

Good Luck!

Bay

i just want it to work because im afraid its not going to

Babe,
Such is life......I hope it works for you but hopefully this is the worst thing in life you will have to go through. Happens to the best of us

How are you feeling by the way.....

Bay :p

im feeling ok, asl ong as i have my medicine and take some ib profin, tomorrow i see the rhuemotologist well actually today since its wed. so hopefully things will go well

Let me know how your appointment went.

Bay

It went pretty good, he told me to cut back on prednisone some more, and that he hasnt seen me long enough to tell me if this will be a long term effect, he also gave me some samples of mobic, and then they drew blood from me like they always do. :wave:

Mark,
The good news is that it didnt get worse :) .

Werent you supossed to go away this week - you mentioned the beach last week. How was that?

My pains have started to get better which is a good thing - my next appointment is in August.

Speak to you soon!

Bay :wave:

thats true it is good it didnt get worse, and im leaving tomorrow to go to the beach, so im looking forward to that, and im glad ur feeling better i hope it stays that way and continues. :D

Thanks hunny! Have an awesome time on your vacation and behave yourself :p .

Speak to you when you get back I guess.

Bay :wave:

hey bay, i got back from my vacation, had a pretty good time, so how are you feeling? :bouncing:

horribly.........been having trouble walking because my feet are in so much pain (almost feels like my foot is broken). I trie calling my doctor to go in sooner but hes on vacation so ill have to wait till August.

How are you feeling? How did ou enjoy July 4th? Do anything special?

Have a good one!

Bay :wave:

I am doing alright, you know the pain never goes away 100% but you learn to live with it because i want to do things, on the 4th i had fun had family over and we shot fireworks and i almost lost my eye ball, i got drilled right in the head with a rocket, didnt hurt but just scared me that i went blind or somethin, I hope you feet get better, i know how that feels, i know my pain isn't as bad as yours but in the mornings is when i hurt worse and i usually take a hot shower and it helps losen me up, but where my pain is the worse is my wrists and fingers, i wish that would go away, and my knees, i can dquat parralell but like if i was on the ground its hard to get back up on my feet because like the ligaments in my knees are not as flexible and i cant bend them all the way in, but other than that im good, well bay i hope you get better drink plenty of fluids and take ur vitamins. :blob_fire

You sound like my doctor.......or mom for that matter. Glad your feeling a little better and able to enjoy the 4th of July.

Got a big day planned for today and dont want to get a late start.

Speak to you later Mark!

Bay :wave:

lol i sound like your mom, what kind of day you got planned? :bouncing:

Hey Mark! Ive been running around all morning - finally got a break. Have been in and out of meetings and have lots of work in the office. I spent the day yesterday at the beach which was GREAT......im able to walk today without limping so its a good day for me :-)

How about yourself?

Bay :wave:

I had a good day, i woke up lifted some wieghts and jumped rope and ran, i raced my dad and beat him, lol i think im getiin better, after months not doin any thing kinda takes a while to get in shape. :wave:

Thats awesome! Im happy for you! I have been so sick since yesterday evening, 103 fever, throwing up.......the works! I have to get back to bed im getting too dizzy.

Speak to you later hunny!

Bay :wave:

bay im really worried bout you, you need to stop getting sick, u need to go see the doctor, and take ur vitamins and drink plenty of fluids and sleep. :jester:

LOL - Mark....are you trying to sound like my mom? Im still feeling really lousy........my fever went down a little. My doctor is on vacation so ill try to wait it out and hopefully this will pass.......thanks for the words of encouragement.

Bay

:D bay i hope you do get better, but i got to get up early tomorrow for school so i hope u get better.

School????? Arent you done with that......its summer!!! Unless you were a bad boy and have to go to summer school

Feeling a little better - slowly getting there

Bay :wave:

no i dont have summer school, but in order to graduate you have to pass the graduation exams and u can start taking them in 10th grade, there is 5 of them i think, social studies, math, english,reading and science, only one i have left is english, i took it the other day and i think i passed im not sure but i think i did good, it only my 2nd time to take it. But im glad u gettin better i hope it dont stop and then u get worse, take care bay. :dizzy:

Mark,
Im glad you got the exams over with and hope you did well. I was lucky, when I was in high school the state didnt require other exams in order to graduate but all my friends in New York had to take regents which were a pain (and apparently hard).

Today was not a good day but hopefully Ill be able to get back to work tomorrow.

Bay

yea its stupid how one test can decide if you graduate or not when you go to years of school and you could mess up once on a test and not pass, i hope you do get better so you can go to work, what kind of work do you do? :eek:

Im feeling a little better, have a big headache though. School sucks that way.....I am not a fan of school - but after High School I am a huge fan of college. I am head buyer and designer for the jewlery company I work with.

Bay

Bay havnt talked to u in forever, dont know why just quit postin for a while, im glad u like college ill be there soon, school starts this thurs. and ill be a senior, so how u feelin? u runnin 5 miles a day and liftin weights and doing ur aerobics? :D

Hey Stranger! I have been so busy lately......this is my busiest time of the year at the office and I have been working long hours and going to the gym everynight so by the time I get home I am so tired.

Glad to hear your doing good - are you excited to be a senior?

Bay

hey bay, im glad im a senior its pretty cool, so it seems like ur doin pretty good since u goin to the gym thats good, im doin pretty good i just cant get my fingers and knees back like they use to, they have no felxibility, hopefully i can get it back, hope to hear from ya soon :nono:

hi everyone, i am new to this, and i don't even know if this is where i am supposed to be telling my story. please redirect me if i'm in the wrong place. i really need advice. i have recently been diagnosed w/ RA after suffering for over 10 months with severe migrating pain throughout me body. i had a quite time with very little pain during the months of may and june. i went to a dr. i did not like, she had me on a pain patch, vicodin, plaquenil, prednisone,salsalicide. i was so high i couldn't tell you if and when i was in pain. i didn't even know what day of the week it was... done w/her! found a new dr. really like him. he put me on 5mg. pred. {4} 2.5mg methotrexate once a week. i've taken my second dose of methotrexate but am experiencing terrible pain. i woke up the other nite and could not walk. pain is so pulsating and i know the pain will be in my hands next cause i can hardly touch my palms. dr. put me on a dose pak and had me stop the daily dose of pred. til the pak is finished. i was good the first couple of days on the pak but now that i'm weaning down i wonder if i will get worse. methotrexate takes 3 weeks to kick in right. will things start to look up after next week ? should i call the dr. again or just wait it out w/ vicodin when it gets too bad. i really don't like taking the prednisone because of the side effects. i've already had difficult times getting off pred before. what is happening to me? will i get better? i am a hair stylist and have had to cancel out clients weeks at a time. when i get a flare should i move around as best as i can or do bed rest? i hope someone can help me i so cunfused and i cry all the time from pain. i know there are many others that are worse off then me, but i just want to know i my life will go back to near normal someday. i am a type A+ person. thanks for giving me time to share. please guide me in the right direction. shirl

Mark,
Today I had an appt with my doctor and he took me off methotexate (WOOHOO) says I am in remission......lets see how long itll last this time. Glad to hear your doing well and having a good time being senior!

Bay

Dear Shril,
Thanks for posting in here - its no problem and I hope we can help you but you should try making your own thread and asking for other peopls help if you want more prespective. My first time with a doctor when I was diagnosed with RA i was also put on many different medications to find one that worked for me. It takes a couple of weeks for the meds to kick in but if you are not feeling any relief after about 3 weeks I would say to call the doctor again. YOu will definately have good days and bad days but the key is to keep focused and not think too much about the pain and the disease. The worst thing is bed rest because how the hell does that help you? Just makes you feel sorry for yourself......let me know how your feeling!

wishing you all the best!

Bay

hey bay u still around?

Im here hunny! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!! Did you dress up? I know its not really original but I was a vampiress.....

How are you feeling? How is senior year?

im doin pretty good i guess, naw i didnt dress up, im doing ok but my doctor says i have to take enbrel now and inject to me, i hope it works.

Ive heard all about that - tell me how it works for you.

probly in a week ill start it, takes a while to get, or get started on it, cuzz got get cleared with insurance and then order it and stuff cuzz alot of pharmacy dont carry it, i dont much like needles but i guess thats somethin i will get over since ill be doin it weekly. :o

he said he didnt wanna put me on methotrexate, i was goin to the doctor expecting him to put me on that since i see alot of people on it, but he said since im young he thinks we can do somethin better, cuzz metho effects somethin bout not having babies.

Yeah my doctor told me that while Im on methotrexade i cant have kids....but im not planning on - and apparently its not supossed to affect long term. Did he tell you it has a long term effect? id like to know.....or maybe not?!

no he didnt tell me the long term effect, he probly would but since he didnt put me on it thats why he didnt tell me, i should be starting enbrel soon like in a day or two. :eek:

now im scared......happy turkey day BTW

i just took my enbrel shot for the first time, stung pretty bad but nothin unbarrebel, kinda waiting to see wut it does.

How often do you have to go back for shots - or do you give them to yourself?

one every week, i do it on sundays

hows it been working for you?