I am new here. I was diagnosed in 2005 with RA, I have been in remission for nearly 11 years, so felt devastated when I started with a severe flare up in December. I am hoping to be starting on biologics soon (pending chest xray results).
I thought I was cured, what a blow it is for it to raise again.
I am every the optimist and hope new meds will settle things down, but I now it takes time. I just never know what's going to hurt tomorrow. My hobby for relaxation in the evening is knitting and some nights my hands are just too sore.
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Annie55
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The same thing happened to me.....I was diagnosed way back in 1978 and from getting preganant in 1985 stopped taking drugs and thought all was well. Then pretty much out of the blue in 2007 all went disasterously wrong. After struggling on for several years on MTX I finally succumbed and agreed to try a biologic in 2015. It's been really good...joints are pretty much pain free and swelling has gone! Hope it works for you!
Im so sorry that this has come back to bite you and whilst of course no one would begrudge you your remission time you were extremely lucky to get 11 years of success. The new meds are shown to often work very well and i really hope that they turn this back off again for you and allow you to get back to your knitting.
Forgive me if I am wrong, but it sounds as though you are not just replying to Annie's question, but also asking one of your own. If so , your own question is likely to get lost as not everyone will scroll down through replies to Annie to find your question, so it might be better to start a fresh post with your own question as you might get more replies that way? Good Luck anyway.
It might go into remission for many years, but it's always there in the background, waiting like a ghost, jumps out of nowhere to take you by surprise.
I have had it now since 1982. Have had a time when I had many flare ups, have also had quite a few years with no symptoms. As long as I take my anti inflammatories, everything goes along smoothly.
When I was pregnant all was good, and I had the both ways things can go afterwards. With my daughter I had a major flare up a few weeks after birth, with my son - nothing !
My point is, take all your meds regardless of how you are feeling. RA can come out of nowhere, expect the unexpected. In between flare ups just remember to protect your joints (particularly straight after a flare up as your joints are weaker and more susceptible to damage). Listen to your body, don't keep going just because everyone else is, they don't have RA. Your body performs better if you have enough sleep
I have rambled on again, and just put stuff down as it came to me.
But you HAVE to stop, listen to your body, (are you achy more than normal) and rest.
Notice I don't tell you to have a nap as hospital RA wards want you to do! No good if all you are thinking about is - I should be doing this or that - just sit with your feet up and watch tv for as long as you can
Very interesting as I thought that once you had RA it was there for the rest of your life. Could you please explain what biologics are and how they are administered. Thanks.
Your biologics nurse should really have explained to you when discussing Benepali, which is a biosimilar. I appreciate they can be busy but an informed patient is an educated patient, especially when taking specialist meds. Grump over (not aimed at you by the way!), maybe this will help you understand all about the different biologics available to us, just tap or click on each & all will be explained nras.org.uk/biologics. This link explains all about biosimilars nras.org.uk/biosimilars-wha...
RD is considered a chronic disease but remission can happen, unfortunately it's quite unusual & it's less common than medically induced remission which is what Annie55 has experienced (& what we all hope for). This is when you're so well controlled by the meds you're prescribed that you have no symptoms. You'll see in one of her replies that she said she's taken meds since diagnosis, so she's been in medically induced remission, or Utopia!
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