Rheumatoid Arthritis - Page 2

sabine69

You & my shrink are both impressed! For a few months this year, I was working 15 hours a week, driving to my son's school to implement a listening therapy that goes with his occupational therapy, and keeping the house (although not well!).

The one problem is my husband. He is constantly disappointed that I'm not making more money and that the house & laundry are always behind and that home-cooked meals aren't always on the table. I'm overweight, and his automatic reaction is that all of my health problems are due to that. It's a constant struggle. I'd gladly give up working in order to devote more time to our son, who has a few issues, and to our house. But right now, it's not meant to be.

I have at least six hours of typing work to do in the next three days. Wish me luck! I can tell that a front is coming through ... anyone who says that weather doesn't affect our conditions doesn't have them.

I hope your hands feel better soon. I'll be thinking of you as I pound the keyboards!

debbieo

My husband has acute Psoraisis with psoriatic arthritis and takes Soriatane which is also hard on his liver. A 30 days supply is $608. at Costco and this insurance company only pays 50% ($304) as the drug is not on its formulary. I have found a great drug price search tool- www.DrugPriceSeeker.com where he has been able to order the same drug from the same manufacturerfor $118! I hope someone else can same save some money like we have.

corker

I know these posts are all kinda old, but I thought I'd jump in anyway. I am no doctor, I do not suffer from Rheumatoid, but my mother does. At least that is her diagnosis. She was first diagnosed a little over two years ago. I'll try to make a long storey short. She always had problems with her hands, but two years ago last October she broke her foot, and was put in a walking cast. Things went down hill quickly. Her other leg couldn't take the compensated weight. And started swelling. Somewhere around here the RA started showing up in her blood work and they put her on prednisone, which didn't seem to help much. She developed a cyst on the back of her knee... it eventually burst, and her whole leg swelled up. Within a few days we had to have an ambulance come take her to the hospital, cause she couldn't get out of bed.
She was in the hospital a couple weeks, got only marginally better. They upped her dose of prednisone. She came home from the hospital with a prescription for Oxycontin (NEVER let anybody you love take this!). She started feeling better within a couple days... she is a stubborn old woman and decided she was better and without thinking about it, went off the oxycontin cold turkey. Within 24hrs she thought she was dying. She'd been through a lot of pain over the previous 6 months, but I'd never seen her like this. I realized it was withdrawal from the drug... that she had only been taking an extremely small dose of it, for only 2 or 3 days. It took almost 2 weeks to get over the withdrawal. I can't imagine how anybody who has been on large doses of that drug for long periods of time ever get off it... but I digress.
After the drug was out of her system, the Rheumatoid gradually got worse again. The doctors tried her on several drugs, including methotrexate, but none helped, some made her worse. The prednisone was starting to make her skin like wet paper that would peel off at the slightest bump. It got to the point she couldn't work and by Christmas of last year, she was completely bed ridden. We had to raise the couch up so she could lean her way off it, or else she couldn't get up at all during the day when no one was home. I had to help her with her meals, taking her to bed, dressing her. She had to stand over the toilette... (don't tell her i am telling you these things she'd kick my ass). She was getting more and more depressed... it was a really bad situation. Out of desperation I went online seeking anything that might be of use. I came across some information linking dairy to Rheumatoid, something about the proteins in dairy causing a reaction. So I told my mom . She ate a lot of dairy. Ironically, the drugs for the RA made her stomach so upset, she ate mostly yogurt. She also ate ALOT of pasta with cheese melted over it, cause it was just about all she could manage by herself during the day when I was at work. We knew it was a long shot, but she immidiately stopped eating dairy. Milk, cheese, butter, yogurt... Within a couple days we saw a change. Her pain level was way down, she was able to get up herself, dress herself. Within a couple weeks she was able to go off all the harshest medications the doctors were prescribing. I think all she takes now is Tylenol Arthritis and Celebrex.
That was about 8 months ago. It took a while to build up her strength again after being pretty much immobile for over a year, but she is living a much more normal life.
This was not a cure. She still has symptoms, still has pain, she still has attacks where it gets worse for a few days to a week, but the doctor said the RF levels in her blood are way down, she is back at work, this summer she was able to work in her garden. Next year she is hoping for Softball... She is doing better than she ever did on all the harsh RA drugs.

I don't know why giving up dairy helped my mom, who knows, maybe it was a freakish coincidence. When I first told my mom about it, I didn't really believe it would make a difference, I was just trying to give her some hope at a time when she had given up on living. But to anybody out there suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis, or similar painful disorders, I recommend giving it a shot. It can't hurt to try.