My name is Ann, I'm 43, live in London & I was diagnosed with RA in September 2010. I've also had Hypothyroidism for at least 15 years. I'm married to the long suffering Michael and have 5 children aged between 27 & 9. To make life a little more interesting, my 17 year old son has Asperger's Syndrome & my 16 year old son has High Functioning Autism. I also worked part time until last June when RA entered my life.
I was very lucky that once I finally went to my G.P. with a variety of strange symptoms in June, I was referred very quickly to my local hospital and seen by a Rheumatologist in August. As I knew nothing at all about RA, by that stage I had convinced myself that my symptoms were due to peri-menopause, stress, depression or even Munchhausens! It was quite a shock when the Rheumatologist made an urgent referral for me to be seen the following week at the Rheumatology clinic at another hospital.
Having had blood tests, scans, x-rays and finally a biopsy of the synovial membrane, I started treatment: methotrexate, sulfasalzine, prednisone & folic acid. I went home clutching loads of drug leaflets, weekly blood test stickers, red methotrexate book and a follow-up appointment for 12 weeks.
I hate taking drugs and having read the leaflets was scared that they were going to kill me off quite quickly. Luckily, I'm a bit of an internet junkie so quickly found the NRAS and phoned them for some information and advice. They were brilliant and talked me through all my anxieties about the medication and within days a huge pack of information arrived in the post.
I'm usually quite quick on the uptake, but for some reason I still didn't register exactly what this diagnosis was going to mean to me and my family. I thought that once I started taking the drugs I would be cured or at least able to function normally again. I had some side effects but nothing I couldn't handle so persevered through the increasing methotrexate doses until I reached 20mg weekly. By my 12 week check up, it was apparent to everyone that I wasn't getting any better and the RA was progressing quite aggressively. Hydroxychloroquine was added to the mix and I was weaned off the prednisone as it was having no effect. I had another "the side effects are going to kill me or make me go blind" wobble but once I had my eyes checked as instructed, I started on this drug too.
By the end of February I was going slightly mad with lack of sleep and pain and burst into tears at a routine monthly blood test visit to the hospital. I was extremely embarrassed and kept apologising for being a wimp but the nurse was lovely and said she'd get the Doctor to see me. Having examined me and put up with my sobbing apologies, the Doctor gave me a steroid injection to take the edge off and said that she felt I needed to be referred for Anti-TNF treatment as soon as I reached 6 months since starting the combination drug treatment deadline.
Now I'm waiting for that to happen and adjusting to my new life. Although I've accepted I've got RA, I'm still in the "maybe they've made a mistake" phase and the "I hate not being able to do normal things" frame of mind. I have also begun a course of CBT & Mindfulness to help me learn some strategies to deal with the whole range of emotions this diagnosis has brought with it.
Looking forward to reading everybody else's blogs and sharing stories and experiences to make life with RA more manageable. I also have a rather dark sense of humour and am really rubbish at political correctness so I will apologise in advance now in case I put my foot in it.
Apologies for the extremely long introductory post, but now it's over I promise that all future posts will be a lot shorter!
RA is a threat to my career
My 1st Serious RA Attack.
Double whammy: osteoarthritis with my RA.
He doesn't understand my RA
First rhuematology appt as my GP thinks I have RA
