Dear Sarah,
Hi! Sorry to hear you have R.A, but it
does sound like you may have Carpel Tunnel too!
I have had R.A for 16 years and also developed Carpel Tunnel syndrome.
I had them both operated on 8 months apart and the relief was tremendous.
I had the exact same symptoms you described.
A nerve conduction test will soon show whether you also have Carpel Tunnel syndrome and day and
night splints will help if you have, until they operate.
Or are your wrist/hand symptoms going now you have R.A treatment?
Best wishes,
Fiona

Hi Sarah

Welcome to the forum. A great place to be for support and information; lots of folk, lots of knowledge and a wealth of tried and tested experiences! Glad you have found us and NRAS!

I'm Lyn, married to Mike, we have four children (well I call them children but perhaps it's time to stop!), Abby 23, Ian and Jake 17, and Louis 16. All four in various stages of education! We live in Thornton Cleveleys in north west Lancashire. I was diagnosed with RA 23 years ago and have since run the gamut of medication and had lots of surgical procedures along the way. Currently on Enbrel, Leflunomide, Prednisolone and Naproxen, and a wagon load of pain killers! Struggling at the moment after knee surgery last summer, a major flare in Cyprus of all places, two lots of knee aspirations and joint injections in 7 weeks, a depo injection that didn't work and basically RA that has not been controlled for the last 12 months! But heyho... no-one said life with RA would be easy and all the lovely friends I have made make it very worthwhile (mostly!)

I'm likely to get shot down in flames for mentioning feet but do please request a referral to podiatry. The delicate bones of the feet can be very easily damaged by RA (been there, had the surgery!). It is worth getting your feet checked early on as any damage is usually irreparable. It may be necessary for you to be assessed for orthotic insoles to protect and support the feet. You only get the one pair of feet (at the moment at any rate )so worth looking after them! A referral to Occupational Therapy would be useful too as specific splints for your hand/wrist problems may help those areas.

Look forward to getting to know you,

Lyn x

Hi Sarah,

I am Lorna, married with 3 daughters. I have had RA for 3.5 years now, I was hit extremely hard at the start. Going down incredibly fast in the space of 5 weeks. It affected everywhere with me bar my knees. I ended up bedridden it was awful, not knowing what's going on and getting worse by the week was dire.

Good news is I'm back fit and really quite well (all things considered.) As mentioned above I am on the triple therapy have been since diagnosed and I am so much better now. I'm still on two of the drugs I was given MTX and HYDROX also folic acid once a week.

Keep in there you will turn the corner soon, try to be positive it really does help. Saying that I know it is so difficult when the pain is so bad. Nice you have found us and keep come on with more questions everyone has been where you are now, we all wear the same tee shirt.

Nice to hear from you, keep a diary I did and it does help when you see yourself getting better.

Take care

Lorna x

Sorry, meant to say 20mg methotrexate a week.