Remission ...

or maybe I never had RA. I don't know, but I do know the following:

- I've wanted to stop taking MTX and Enbrel for many months now, and this past weekend was week 5 w/o any drugs.
- I've had my normal amount of crashes on my mountain bike and unicycles, no recent broken arms, but lots of scrapes and cuts.
- My wrists, elbows and knees don't seem any stiffer or sorer than usual. They are still sore sometimes, but usually only after 4+ hours in the saddle.
- I have done this without any adult supervision, specifically my Rhuemy. She may be pissed.
- It took 2 months for the drugs to kick in, I won't declare victory for at least another 3 weeks.
- I had all my Silver Almagam fillings (8) removed and replaced with porcelain fillings.
- Being reliant on the drugs has been a source of depression for me for over 2 years; I have to know if I can deal without them.

So maybe I am an impostor, a guy who was diagnosed with RA, but really does not have it. Maybe I'm just lucky, it went into remission, maybe the fillings had something to do with it. I just don't know.
The funny thing, even if I go 2 more months and still do not feel the affects to RA, now I'll have to deal with the depression associated with waiting for it to return
... unless I get that lobotomy I've been considering ... Craig

Sounds good to me! It's your life. I wish you well.

Mary

wow! great news craig! send the water your drinking our way so we can all get some! my comes from polluted lake erie :)

so u mastered the unicycle? glad no broken bones silly man....... i do think of you when i look up in my garage an see my bike hanging, i say craig can do it???? they i say nahhhhh but i am swimming this summer when the weather is hot.
great hearing from you take care and if u have any pics again to share we'd love to see em!

Thanks ducky. I was looking all over for it and couldn't find it lol.

cb, if you are in remission, ENJOY it. Don't waste your time in depression, worrying about if/when it will come back. If you wake up and the sun is shining and you are pain free, just relax and appreciate another day free of pain. Think about it...if you woke up in pain, you'd be thinking about how good life would be without pain, well today's that day, so enjoy. I truely believe by positive thinking we can lessen our symptoms and in some cases make them go away.

Oh yea, what do you mean by adult supervision? Are you a teen?

Congrats cb. Soak it up!

I'm 46, so not a teen, but still require more supervision than I get, and the Mrs. just can't be there all the time.
Sunday was week 6, no MTX or Enbrel (how is it a spell checker in the Arthritis news group does not know MTX or Enbrel?)

I really don't know what to think about why I'm still holding on.
I was told that remission w/o chemicals is unlikely. I was also told I had RA, severe enough to require those chemicals. Now both of those statements cannot be true, can they.

I've not mastered the Unicycle yet, but I am getting better. It is great fun and I recommend it to everyone. The best part, and certainly feeds my voracious ego, is the reaction from others who see me.

not everyone enjoys a clown, but EVERYONE likes a unicyclist ... Craig

hell! Craig go for it!  do whatever the heck you're doing now for as long as you can because "ya never now"...misdiagnoses is possible, and some weirda** illness that go away do respond to heavy antiinflammatory meds.

 

it may be that you have hit a remission! a long LOOOOOONG one i hope in that too.  some peeps hit 10 year remission!

 

i say, anything is possible.  i do not believe that statement in that RA can't have a non chemical remission...i mean, getting the immune system bumped back to working order the way it's supposed to be? it should drive pretty well thereafter.

 

live it up dude!!!!!!  who cares what it is!!!!!!!!  it's a good thing.

erin

Craig! Great to hear from you and hear such great news! Here's hoping you stay in remission!!!!

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