Where to start?
I'm not really sure where to start my story, but I guess it's better to just dive in and figure it out along the way. If you're reading this, then you've probably googled RA, and hopefully stumbled upon this. You and I have more in common than you think if you're looking on the internet for info about RA, since when I was first diagnosed that's all I did. But unfortunately, there's plenty of information on WebMD and other medical sites, but none give you a personal account of what life is like living with RA, and I wish I had been able to get my hands on more information a while ago. So this blog is for anyone dealing with the scary hell that RA can be, and all of it's miserable effects on your life.
Diagnosis
My diagnosis of RA wasn't an easy thing to come by. I noticed some pain in my wrists around the time of my wedding in 2005. Of course I ignored it for a while, afterall I was getting married - there are priorities in life! But I was having a hard time doing the simplest things, like pulling a sheet on the bed was extremely painful. I started wearing wrist braces because I wrote it off as carpel tunnel or something work related, but it just kept getting worse.
My first visit with a doctor was not a good one. He didn't have the best bedside manner, which shouldn't make a difference but it does, and then proceeded to tell me that 'as women get older they have aches and pains'; take some ibuprofen and relax. To say the least I wasn't happy with a brush-off, and made another appointment. When I went back a month later my knuckles on my fingers and toes were swollen, red and painful. But the doctor again dismissed me due to my blood work not supporting an RA diagnosis. Again I was told to go home and relax.
So I went looking for another doctor. I asked around for recommendations, and ended up at UCONN in Farmington. The doctor there believed that I was in pain, and said that even though my blood work didn't show all the signs of RA, I still had it - there were too many markers that pointed to RA. Right away he started me on methotrexate and steroids, which was just the beginning of 5 long years of medications.
The side effects were miserable, I was sick to my stomach a lot, the injections were painful, my face puffed up because of the steroids and I was jittery all the time. But on the positive side the pain was lessening each day - I guess you just swap one kind of pain for another.
All of this seemed to connect with some other autoimmune issues that I was dealing with. Anemia, De Quervain's tendinitis, Raynaud's and hypothyroidism were the beginning. I also has some blood work that pointed to Lupus, but not many of the other symptoms, but it was concerning nonetheless.
But I was on a road to getting better, and I didn't question much at the time - even though I should have been questioning everything. Note to self, don't blindly trust the guy in the white coat, he might not be making the right decisions for you.
