Rheumatroid arthritis (pain, blood, swollen, arm)

[okaydorothy]

Hi there
I am female, 45 year old, tall but not overweight. Today I was rx'd with rheumathroid arthritis. My own gp told me in June and I just got around to the appt today. Moe blood was drawn and a script of Celebrex was given. I never realized that my fingers were swollen ; doctor said ; your fingers are not normal, but I never realized it. The pain in my arm is horrendous so i am hoping the meds will take care of the pain.

My young son ; 10 years old has recently been complaining that it is hard for him to walk in the mornings and he limps for a while after waking up. Now of course I am thinking he has the same and next week i will take him for blood work. He is tall also, and a tad overweight. When he runs, he has always been stiff.

Anyone have any experience with this. My mum has it but not very bad ; she is 86. My grandmother I hear had it very bad where her hands were disfigured.

[Briolat21]

JRA (juvenile rheumatoid arthritis) can go into remission. So if your son is diagnosed with something, there's the possibility he could outgrow it, or it could eventually go into remission.

Adult does not go into remission, but must be managed.

I had JRA as a child, went into remission when I was about 10 (was diagnosed with it at 21 months of age). Didn't do any major lasting damage to me. However I had friends with very severe cases, where it did do lasting damage to their joints.

Wishing you and your son the best.

[pamelaBeurman]

I have it in my knees and hands. What works best for me is to remain active. It hurts first thing in the morning,takes a while to navigate the stairs but once I start moving around the pain subsides. Aspirin helps too. I took up beading to keep my hands flexible and even though I have sewing machines,I still sew most things the old fashioned way.

It's just a case of finding what works for you.

Hope things turn out well for the both of you.

[Cupcake77]

My best friend was dx with RA. I feel so bad for her, she uses a cane now and can't drive but still reallly active in spite of her RA. He doctors tell her there's not much they can do for her but give her steroids and she takes a lot of pain meds.

[pitt_transplant]

The son could just have some growing pains hopefully. You both should stay active though. It keeps a lot of people from locking up and getting joints that just won't go. Talk to your doctor about how to eat for your arthritis too. Dietary changes may help.

[TKJJRLJJ]

I have had active RA for around 22 years now.
It's best to stay active & not just lay around. I have a couple friends that just gave in and now are mostly bedridden. The doctors said I probably have had it since a child but it went into remission until I had my last daughter & they gave me some kind of measle shot. Mine is all thru my body so I take Methotrexate weekly. All pain meds make me puke so they told me I will just have to deal with the pain. Typing seems to keep my fingers nibble. I am 56 & raising 4 more children & they keep my on the go & I believe that helps so I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. Ibuprofen & predisone also help with I get real inflamed. Some folic acid & vitamin D could be helpful also.

[hopedelivers]

I am 55 and have had RA and Osteo for 10 years. My knuckles are swollen and painful. My wrists and right knee constantly hurt. I keep active to reduce the pain. I take methotrexate and folic acid for medications and also pain meds when needed. I have a 10 year old who also keeps me very active and whom I live for.

My father who is 88 just started symptoms of RA at 86 but my great-aunt was riddled with RA at a young age and was quite disfigured. Hopefully this will not happen to me!!

Hopefully your son is just going thru growing pains and doesn't have RA. I don't know much about juvenile RA.

I wish you both the best of luck!!

[nancy707]

I am 53 years old and was Dx with RA in 1988...I have done pretty well until the last few years. I have had nodules removed from my wrist, knee and elbows. I take both Methotrexate and Embrol along with vitamin D.
I have lost most on the fine motor coordination in my hands, more than the pain is the exhustion ..

We are planning to move to Fla soon with the hopes that the better weather will help.

[TKJJRLJJ]

You might want to spend a month or so in Florida a couple different seasons of the year before moving there. Humidity also seems to affect RA & when we went there for 2 weeks (1999) years ago in June-July it really caused my RA to flame up where my husband even had to feed me. Three years ago we went for a week in Feb & I was ok. We live in Oregon & I am trying to find a drier climate to move to as the weather here is causing me a lot of pain.