Posted 5/30/2013 3:40 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Tony,
I, too, am new to RA. I am 44, and also a nurse like the writer above. Last year I was running 10 miles a day after my 13 night shift. I developed RA after our house burned down last November. I can tell you from personal experience that stress is a big factor in worsening an RA flare.
Within 2 months I went from a very active healthy person to not being able to climb stairs, get out of a chair, etc. The pain was crucifying. Couldn't sleep. Horrible. I thought it was a work out related injury at first, so I put on a knee brace and kept working out. Then the other knee started. I figured I must have been putting too much pressure on the good knee...so before I knew it I had 2 knee braces. But I was still working out. Within a few weeks, I had ankle braces and the knee pain was pretty horrible. I came home from work one night with 9.8 lbs of swelling in my ankles. I was still doing that Insanity workout you see on tv (not very smart, huh?). Except now I was taking Percocet before and after the workout. Luckily, I took pictures of all the freakish swelling (more as a joke at the time), which in hind sight I would advise anyone to do, as it really helped my Rheumatologist later on. My primary GP tried Lasix (for the swelling)...thinking maybe it was metabolic (I developed Hashimoto's thyroiditis...autoimmune thyroid problem about 2 months before the RA). It didn't work. They sent me to a Rheumatologist after that, and put me on high dose steroids while waiting to get in. Apparently my tendons in my knees were close to rupture.
I'm now on Methotrexate, Prednisone, and will be starting biologics soon. Read up on these drugs, as they are the mainstays of treating RA. I have had few side effects (little nausea, but not bad), but am careful to take the folic acid as directed (lessens the side effects of methotrexate). I feel 500% better, and while I am not running like before, I am able to do an elliptical machine, walk my dogs, and finish my 13 hour night in the ICU. Our house was rebuilt after 6 months and I can make it up the stairs now.
So...it's a new me that has emerged from this illness. A little slower, but still going and determined as ever. I eat well (no wheat or dairy, all organic which seems to help with the inflammation). I don't smoke or drink. I make every effort to do whatever is on my bucket list, because you never know when the day will come that you can't. I don't want any regrets when that day comes. This summer I am swimming with the Beluga whales in Florida and going sky diving. I don't care if they have to carry me away after those. I am doing it.
RA isn't the end of the world. There is pain, for sure. There is depression. But there are pretty decent treatments out there that can help. Keep moving. Keep learning. The more you learn, the better prepared you are to handle any chronic condition. And once you learn to live with it, you appreciate the good times so much more.