Also a newbie

Hi everyone.  I'm using my diagnosis as my name.  I know that seems silly but I so seldom meet people who have heard of it.  I thought if I put it right out there I might meet someone who also has it.  There is discussion about whether it is RA or not but this forum is the closest to it that I can find so I hope it's okay for me to be a member here!  Thanks.

Welcome PRA, yea we all struggle here with some form of RA. Its a great place to whinge or rant or just get things off your mind.

Tell us more about yourself, golitho

Thanks for the welcome.  I'm on plaquenil, methotrexate and relafin.  I'll put that on the bottom of my posts like you all do once I've had a look at the control panel.  They treat PRA just like RA and at least half of PRA cases turn into RA.  I seem to have the flu like symptoms most of the time, unless it's the methotrexate causing it.

Hi PRA,
Welcome to HW, There are alot of good ppl here.

In 2006 I began experiencing weird, intermittent episodes of swelling mostly in my hands and wrists, and which would occur 24-48 hours after exercise. I finally had a severe episode with perhaps the worst pain I have ever experienced while out of town, staying at a hotel. I was seriously considering going to the er, but was able to make pain bearable with iburprofen. Symptoms subsided after a day or two, but I continued to experience intermittent, slightly less painful episodes. Long story short, went to PCP who did blood work to rule out RA, Lupus, etc. Everything came back normal. referred to rheumatologist, who examined me, looked at my records, and pronounced that I did not have a systemic inflammatory disease. Gave me some cock and bull story about having something similar Reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which never made sense. Recommended steroid injections in shoulders, ice packs, no exercise. Symptoms mostly cleared up, I was relieved, but continued to experience unusual pain and inflammation in muscles after playing softball, which I did frequently. Symptoms gradually increased over the next few years and I now have RA, with constant pain and swelling in hands and feet. I had never heard of palindromic rheumatism, but in doing research I came upon it, and it sounds just like what I was experiencing. WEll, I have a new rheumy, who seems much more compassionate and involved has me on leflunomide and in the near future Humira. Not much relief so far, but I am hopeful. By flu like symptoms I guess you mean the ache and fatigue. Yep, got those too. Good luck.