45 AND CLAPPED OUT!

[gaspajack]

At the age of 40 life was good i had been working since i was 15 and all was well, now i 45 am clapped out!

3 years ago i fell down the stairs and hurt the top of my leg well my hip but there was always a slight pain there it never left, after a year of nagging my doc and severel blood tests i was advised i had really bad diabetes and was given the choice of tablets or injections naturally i chose tablets! The pain still nagged and after a further year it became so bad my doc gave me stronger pain killers still no referral to rheumy doc then my back started to nagg and my right foot was starting to give me jip at last you might say a referral no not quite. Further blood tests at my gp's and was advised my imflamatry markers were raised (excuse the spellings) and was atlast reffered had to wait 3 months but got there the doc took one look and said why wernt you reffered sooner DOH! Well what more can i say i am now taking m/txate,sulphasalzine, neproxin tramadol diabetic tablets and lots of others lol. i am now at my wits end with esa that place where you have youre medicals is a joke shop but dont get me started its my gripe.

Does anyone else oh i have sero negative arthritis still not sure what it means but i can feel the pain most days does anyone else have problems with side effects of other meds that dont agree with methtoxate and sulpha salizine and the constant feeling of wanting to be sick!

At 45 i diddnt envision myself having arthrhitis let alone not working because of it.

Well its off to court next week for my esa appeal fingers crossed all goes well but from what i have heard no-one is winning this is my third time at court winning the last 2 has anyone got a miracle they would like to share to make us all pain free haha.........

[sylvi]

I have had ra for 9yrs now and i'm now 56yrs and like you i'm fed up thinking that when the family had grown up we would enjoy a few years doing things together without worrying about kids. In the last three years i have had hell with my knee after falling down the stairs just before my 25th anniversary. I had to have a wash out in november. Then in july i had my knee replaced,That didn't go well and i ended up having my ligaments stitched back. It now turns out That i'm knock kneed and thats the reason why my knee isn't working right.I now have to have the knee redone.

So i have a lot of sympathy for you and i know where your coming from. Regarding the esa process, i say don't give in. You will win in the end.

I will be thinking of you when you go to your appeal.

Sylvi. xx

[gaspajack in reply to sylvi]

oh the wash out had one of those a few years ago when i knelt on a rusty nail it hurt like hell for days after fingers crossed the op goes well and back to normality! well as near to it as you can get and congrats on your'e anniversary i had my 25 years last year.

Cheers for the reply.

[Hidden]

Oh dear Gaspajack that does sound like a catalogue of woes to me. Presuming you know that this is Rheumatoid Arthritis not some other form of inflammatory arthritis? I ask because some of the others give ser-negative blood results - but it is quite possible that you have RA with no rheumatoid factor - many on here do.

Good luck with the ESA and your quest for a miracle - if you read the other blogs on here you'll soon find out that most people are more in your boat than not - many far younger than you or I too! Take care TTx

[gaspajack in reply to Hidden]

Tilda i was only diagnosed last nov so still in the early days yet next week will be my first full week on max sulphasalizine am really feeling it now the sickness i mean but have been given the choice of weekly methatrexate injections instead of tablets i was told i had no rheumitoid factors whatever that means i am still learning but quick cheers for the reply.

[Hidden in reply to gaspajack]

By all means, take the MTX injections! Most of us here have agreed the injections have mostly no ill effects, compared to the nausea and gastric upset with tablets. good luck, hope you will be feeling much better. Loret xx

[Hidden in reply to gaspajack]

I was diagnosed end of November too but had about 9 months of reading up and researching before I got my diagnosis so I know a bit about RA now - but not THAT much still because it is so variable from person to person.

I'm now 49 so a little older than you but I found it quite humbling to learn that I was one of the lucky ones to have had at least 45 years without RA - I find it helps me to focus on that when the going seems tough. TTx

[WiseSarah]

Hi gaspajack,

I am 37 and was diagnosed 3 years ago and I too have high blood sugar. I am on metformin as well as rheumatoid drugs MTX, sulfasalazine, tramadol, actemra, folic acid, vit B12 injections, iron, prednisone, cipralex. And I am sero negative! So we are quite similar. Sero negative means that there is no rheumatoid factor in our bloods although my rheumatologist tests me annually to see if the rheumatoid factor has appeared. Don't feel clapped out. I do sympathise because I feel like that too but if you can get the pain under control it will help. And it sounds like you're not on anti-tnf drugs yet. I think you have to try and fail on other drugs before you qualify for anti-tnfs. So that might offer some hope too. The main thing is that you are not on your own and everyone one this site is so supportive and helpful.

Good luck gaspajack and let us know how you get on.

Sarah xx

[gaspajack in reply to WiseSarah]

Oh the days of metformin or metfartin as we all called it have gone am on sitaglypton now and feelin fine on them started 4 sulphasalizine today mon along with all the other tablets i take topped 32 i am like a rattle at the moment but 8 of those will go when i start on injections and hopefully some of the sickness and sore stomach will depart too tramadol a take those aswell they constipate the life out of ya the list just goes on and on lol On a good note i feel fine today but they are far and few between naproxin is helping

and cheers for the reply i will let yous all know what happens next!

[beth48]

At the ripe old age of 63 i've had plenty of yrs of different treatments and meds.it all started at 27yrs.Have been on sulfasalazine for 4yrs and can only tolerate 1 tablet am and 2 pm. Then onto MTX 18 months ago and can no longer cope with the side effects (nausea,headaches,stomach ache) so last week RA sister gave me my first MTX injection and this week i will try to inject myself!!!! bit worried but others on here have done it so hopefully i will, 25mgs is hard to take in tablets.That's the beauty of this site it lets you see how others cope in similar surcumstances.It's a case of trial and error i think and being on other meds for other conditions it's a job to work out which one is causing each side effect.All i can say is this last week since injection i have had no nausea probs.Good luck with it all Beth :))))

[gaspajack in reply to beth48]

Cheers for the reply i have just started taking 4 tablets a day today is my first day on 4 sulphasalizine and 20 mg of methtrexate tablet form so here goes i will see the consultant next week to start injections as the stomach pain is unreal at the moment . I was going to be put on injections for my diabetes thank the lord i wasnt couldnt cope with a double wammy i will let everyone know after next week what the results are like!

[helixhelix]

Hi gaspajack,

It does sound as if the last few years have been tough for you. But don't despair - if you were diagnosed in November it's still early days for you so things will get loads better. My first 10-12 weeks on MTX were horrible, but the side effects slowly went and it started working so the pain improved too. Now I feel a bit odd the morning after MTX night but otherwise it's usually ok. One of the many horrible things about this disease is that everything takes soooo looonggg. It's hard to be patient when you're feeling rough, and you do have to balance trying to get accustomed to the stuff with nagging away at the docs to get the right set of medicine for you. But do keep believing it will get better. And good luck with ESA. Polly

[Hidden]

You have rough time hope things improve for you soon x

[Tinwoman2]

I'll be 44 in a month, and have had JRA since I was 2. I also am not working & never thought I'd be at this point in my life.

Sorry I have no miracle cure for you, but I'll be here to support you in your arthritis journey.

Christine

[angelwishes]

to say im having bad few weeks is polite im suffering really bad , nothing seems to be wrking ,ive had all infusions poss had reactions to all of them ad a new one last week seems worse than ever ,had morphine patch on diazapam all prescibed yesterday, feet reall bad today hands, didnt think this ra cud get any worse , mind willing body just a flop, really do hope this works

[gaspajack]

Well tomorrow is D day for my esa appeal starting to feel the pressure today and thats the last thing i need, i have stopped sulphasalizine today on instructions from a rheumy nurse not my usuall one and she was abit abrupt to say the least. I cant stand taking both them and methatrexate together the sickness and runs are too much (notice i said runs cant for the life of me spell the diho word lol) so sulpha suspended until the 20th when i see consultant again. I AM JUST WONDERING IF STRESS IS A FACTOR IN ALL THIS mmmmmmmmmmmm well i have everything crossed for tomorrow i will let yous know what happens i am sure this might affect others!