HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Fatigue, Flare, Stress?

Support Forums
>
Rheumatoid Arthritis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 1/11/2014 2:11 PM (GMT 0)
For the last month or so I have been feeling like dirt. So tired, weak, shortness of breath out of the blue, pain all over and feeling like I am being sat on. I have also had some nausea and lost 4lbs, when you are just about 115, that is an issue.

I was switched to Enbrel about 8 weeks ago and after the first two weeks I was doing good, now the last two weeks it feels like I am taking nothing. In my job I need to do alot of writing and we use carbon copies, I havent been able to do this since the beginning of the school year. I switched all my paperwork over to the computer. Now typing is even becoming a proplem. When I hit keys I cant raise my fingers so multiple letters show up, I hit multiple letters at a time too. Not to mention it is very painful to keep my hands/forearms in a typing position. On average I type about 10 pages per day and need to do alot of copy and pasteing. I would estimate nearly 1/2 of the words get spelled wrong, extra capitals, no spaces, it then takes me forever to edit and fix everything. I have been looking at the Dragon Speak program but dont know if it will work with what I need to do.

I dont know if the last few weeks are from weather, stress or a flare. I have just been dx'd since march and I have yet gotten to the point that this is not affecting every part of my day. I should add that my family dr ran lots of bloodwork. She checked for lead, lyme, iron, vit b, vit d, cpk, c reactive protein, and a whole bunch of other things. The only thing that popped up was low vit D, which I have been having trouble with for years.

Not sure what to do or think. Any suggestions?
Posted 1/12/2014 12:39 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Angeleyes,

I’m sorry you are feeling so unwell and that work is so difficult for you. Enbrel was my first biologic, and for me, like you it stopped working in my case after 3 months. I then tried Actemra which worked very well but was too hard on my liver. I’m now on Orencia for the past 6 months and it’s doing a great job with no liver problems. I was very glad to say goodbye to the Enbrel injections and now have an infusion in hospital every 4 weeks which is a much more pleasant and sociable experience.

When you mention ‘shortness of breath’ and ‘feeling like I am being sat on’ alarm bells ring. I am not a medical professional but I know that these symptoms may indicate a problem with your heart. I believe you should see your doctor or go to an emergency room about these symptoms as soon as you can.

When you mention ‘tiredness, weaknesses, and ‘pain all over’ that is very familiar to me. I had those symptoms a few months ago and I thought it was RA and that my third biologic wasn’t working. It turned out it was Fibromyalgia. It is not unusual for RA patients to get Fibromyalgia. I would suggest a visit to your RA specialist for these symptoms. It’s very upsetting to be told you have another life sentence on top of RA but my new diagnosis has turned out to be a good thing because I can now determine what is hurting me. To me RA pain means watch out and maybe sometimes stop what you are doing. Fibro pain is related to your central nervous system and does not indicate any harm to the painful area of your body. I can be less vigilant about Fibro pain and keep going as long as I don’t push it too hard and I rest.

One last thing many Fibro patients have Vitamin D deficiency. This is one more reason for you to check it out. Good luck with it all and I hope things improve for you soon. Neenaa
Posted 1/13/2014 10:54 PM (GMT 0)
Neenaa, thank you for your input. Fibro has been something that has been kicked around with me for years. One dr will say yes, and then the next say no. Same thing with the RSD and arachnoiditis dx's, it is so frustrating, why cant they agree. My pain management dr said it doesnt matter whatever we call it, the treatment is the same. I dont think its that easy, but you cant argue with them. The pain management dr had told me something specific, documented it (I saw the paperwork at my family drs office) and then the next time I was in I said something and he said he never said that. Aarrgghh!!!

My joints are on fire and my knees are swollen like huge grapefruits. I have these toothpick legs and huge knees,lol. I talked to my RA dr and she doesnt want me to take my next enbrel injection and said maybe we will try something different. Not sure what that means, whats next after those two DMARDS? I just want to not feel like sleeping all day. I will see her in 8 days.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply