Hiya, I'm new to this site, Just thought I would interduce myself.

[shirlthegirl]

I'm Shirley, I'm Married and have two daughters one is 30 and the other is 14, I'm 49 and was diagnosed with RA at the being of September by my doctor after having a lot of pains in my feet, shoulder's and knee's for several weeks, Since then I now have pains and stiffness in my wrist fingers and ebows, I have to wait untill the 14th November to see a rehumatioist for my first appointment, At present I am taking Tramadol, Meloxicom,Paracetomol and Amitrityline to help me to sleep, I don't really know what to expect from my first visit so any advice would be great.

Thankyou for taking time to read this

Shirley

[Hidden]

Hi Shirley,

Welcome to this site although sorry to hear that you have had to join through r.a. We are a friendly bunch and there are always someone who can help, although we are not medically minded, just people with inflammatory arthritis. My advice to you would be to read some of the old blogs even in the archives as they are just as useful when looking for information, and it will help to realise what we are talking about when we shorten words, as we tend to forget when writing to newbies.

As to your first visit to the rhumy, you will be asked a history of you illness and whether or not other people within your family have it or had it before they died (grandparents in these cases). They will examine the areas and press on finger joints and ask you to hold as tight as you can. Its all to see how you react and what you can or cannot do and dependant on that will mean the next stage of treatment.

Hope this helps, good luck and take care. xx

[shirlthegirl in reply to Hidden]

Hi Georje,

Thankyou for the reply , This will be very helpfully to me, will take your advice on reading some of the old blogs, As well as being new to this site, I am also a newbie to a computer, so thankyou.

shirley.x

[sylvi]

Shirley welcome to our site. Your first appt. will about what your taking and what symptons you have and then they will look at treatment. Whatever drugs they give you, give them time to work as with these type of drugs take a while to get working. If you have any questions you want to ask write it down and also write all your symptoms and anything else you think will help them when you go to see them. If you are suffering with depression also tell them that as well. It might help if you keep a diary from now and until you see them as that will help them gage how your day goes.

Hope it goes well for you. Sylvi. xx

[shirlthegirl in reply to sylvi]

Hi Sylvi

Thankyou for taking time to reply to me, I like the idea of keeping a diary, I think this will really help, I will let you know how I get on.

Thanks again x

[PJ68]

Welcome from me too!

I've been on here for just over a year and have found it to be a great source of information, but also there is always someone you can talk too - share the bad times and the good!

I keep a diary, and record good days as well as bad - any change in diet, excerise, emotions etc - and I always take it with me when I have appointments. I also write down any notes that the consultant says ( I forgot in the first visits )

And remember - its early days for you, take each day as it comes, and dont worry if you have to rest - it is very important.

You know where we are if you need to ask anything!

Take care - Pen

[Shell1967]

Hello I'm Michelle and I'm also very new to this site and only recently diagnosed with RA late August.i started methotrexate mid step after my 1 st rheumo appt late July.im now on week 5 and doing fine on it.so far so good.when I first went my consulatant went through my history,then examined me,ordered loads of blood tests and sent me for a chest X-ray,I think the blood test were to just confirm his suspicions as after he examined me he said its possible you have RA,and couple weeks later my blood results confirmed it.im getting my head round it slowly but surely,and although its not curable it is very much treatable.keep thinking positive.keep in touch love Michelle xxx

P d

[Rockpool60]

Hello and welcome too.

The lovely people on this site are so supportive and knowledgeable it is such a relief to talk to people who know how you feel or can offer advice. I certainly don't know what I would have done without my chats with them

Take care x

[Hidden]

Hi Shirley

I can see you've already had lots of useful info about your first appointment with the consultant, but I thought you might also find it helpful to read our article on this. If you click on the link below it will take you to the article on our website, 'Initial hospital consultation': nras.org.uk/about_rheumatoi...

I hope you appointment goes well, and welcome to HU.

Kind regards

Sarah Kate

NRAS

[Sophie123]

Hi Shirley

I too am a new comer on here and was made to feel very welcome already, so welcome to you too.

Good luck with your first rheumy appointment. I found it helpful to have my husband with me to not only help remember everything that was said but to also add bits of info that I may have missed about sypmptoms (as there are so many!). I also recommend taking in any photos you have off swollen joints as my consultant appreciated this.

Good luck x

[Hidden]

Hi Shirley & welcome!

I was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis back in June and then told that it is 'almost certainly' Psoriatic Arthritis a couple of weeks ago.

I also keep a diary of just about everything related to my illness. I've never managed to keep any sort of diary before but this one (it's on my laptop) has proved so useful that keeping it up is easy now. As well as symptoms I record which medical professional said what & when and make a note of anything that seems to help such as swimming or avoiding certain foods etc. I've found the diary helps a lot when I go for appointments as without the overview it gives me I tend to focus just on how I've felt over the last week or even the last couple of days.

It might also be a good idea to ask how your illness will be monitored. X-rays, scans and MRIs are useful for checking what is happening with your joints but expensive and there does seem to be an element of 'if you don't ask, you don't get'. So it could help to show that you rightly expect to have these kinds of investigations if the diagnosis of RA or any other type of inflammatory arthritis is confirmed.

Hope all goes well,

Christina xx