Newly diagnosed, Hi to all!
I'm a 56 year old woman, have been living with pain and fatigue for 24 years plus due to Fibromyalgia, Osteoarthritis, Chronic migraines and the usual host of other things that accompany this!
Now, after spending the last 2 1/5 years in absolute agony, trying to get GPS/Consultants to take me seriously and not put everything down to my existing conditions, I have finally also been diagnosed with seropositive Rheumatoid arthritis, along with Sjorgrens. Inflammatory markers ‘ through the roof’.
I feel let down and angry, and ,of course, scared! As it has taken so long ,a lot if damage has already been done. Already have nodules etc, my elbows won't fully straighten or bend and my knees are in a very bad way! My hands are dreadful!
I have been started on prednisolone, on 3rd week , now tapering down from 2 weeks on 20mg, and Methotrexate, on 2nd week ,next week on 15mg.
Rheumatologist says I'm in for a long hard road to finding what suits and this looks like a very supportive forum with lots of great advice which I'm sure I will need!
Am feeling really rough today, yesterday was Methotrexate day and also a lowering of prednisolone. Pains are starting to resurface a bit after initially having an almost instant reduction in pain from the steroid. I suppose this is to be expected?
It has been great these last 2 weeks to be able to use my hands and to not have to spend 10 minutes sitting on the edge of the bed, crying, dreading getting up due to searing pain!
Welcome to the forum, I'm really sorry to hear that you are one of the many that's been ignored over the years. Thankfully, the opposite has been my experience and my Inflammatory Arthritis has been caught so early that it remains 'undifferntiated'. I'm taking hydroxychloroquine and mtx too and so far I have only had one short blip of side effects which, of course I panicked about but have not had any issues since.I've learned so much from the other members on here, newbies and old timers 😉 alike. All experiences even from newly diagnosed people who are clueless or feel their in the dark can enormously helpful to those at a similar stage.
I am not sure what mtx is doing for me but it's early days yet, only about 6 weeks in. I have a creeping feeling that it might be doing some good. Episodes (flares) are getting further apart.
Thank you! It's great to have the support from those who know exactly what you're going through! You are only a few weeks ahead of me treatment wise so it will be interesting to see how our journey go!