Hi Jennie

A very warm welcome to the forum where you will find lots of people who will be able to reminisce with you as well as offer advice and encouragement.

I am so sorry that you have suffered for so long and I am sure you have had a lot of ups and downs along the way.

I am 58 and have been diagnosed 6 years but have been fortunate to be on drugs that are keeping it under control at the moment unlike a lot of poor people on this forum. However I am always amazed at the upbeat attitude that people have and it is great to have a forum like this where you can come and have a moan or ask a question and there will always be someone who knows where you are coming from. The NRAS helpline is very helpful too.

Look forward to hearing more from you.

Best wishes from a very windy but dry at the moment Herne Bay!!

Sue

Hi Sue,

Thank you so much for your lovely welcome. I am very glad to be a part of things here, and also to be back supporting the Arthritis cause. After having living on NSAIDs for most of my life, for the past couple of years and after quite a lot of complications and surgery, I have been trying to find a new drug combo that works for me. Not yet succeeded, but ever hopeful. From a very showery and windy (yuk!) Bracknell , send my love. Jennyxxxxxx

Hi Jenny,

Welcome to the forum but sorry to hear you have had RA from such a young age. You'll get lots of support and advice on here.
I am 60, married to Ian for 33 years, we have a 23 year old daughter who at the moment is working in Canada.
I have had RA for 11 years, now taking mtx and humira. I hope you can find a drug or mix of drugs very soon that works well for you.
Looking forward to getting to know you.

Love Doreen xx

Hi Jenny

A very warm welcome, great to you are here, you will always have much support and advice and no doubt will be able to help us here too ! So sorry to hear you have suffered for so much of your life, so good to know you have a wonderful hubby and family around you.

I am 56 and have only had RA for about three years, had fun and games for the first couple of years trying to find something to control the disease, but now on Cimzia, and doing very well. Hope you are able to get your medication sorted out, there are so many marvellous drugs now available to us.

Best wishes Julia xx

Hi Jenny - I'm 54 and newly diagnosed with RA. I live in Devon with hubby and 4 teenage kids (who are stressing me out at the moment - teenagers yuch!!!). I've just started MTX and have just finished course of steroids, so my symptoms are pretty much in check at the moment and I have fingers crossed that it'll stay like this for as long as possible.

Because I'm new to all this I don't understand all the abbreviations, so what is JCA?

Best wishes Sylvia xx

hi Jenny,

a warm welcome from me.

such a long time you've had RA!! you must have been through so much, i found it so hard to come to terms with just over two years ago .. i am now 59.

i am petrified when starting a new drug, so totally sympathise, when i was diagnosed i lost over half a stone in the first week with the stress of it all.

i am currently taking Methotrexate, Hydroxy and Humira which has helped, although my bloods to fluctuate each month, so hoping i will stay on Humira as it's the one that has worked best for me.

i will have been married 40 years next weekend and it feels like yesterday when i remember meeting him which is scary!! also have a 30 year old Daughter long flown the nest.

do keep posting so we can get to know you,

Suzanne x

Hi Jenny

A great pleasure to meet you on the forum and a big welcome!

So sorry you had JCA at such a tender age though, even though you sound very philosophical about it. You have truly grown up with it.

I have had RA for 40 years, diagnosed in my mid 20's. Also coeliac and Addisons.
I can share reminiscences of Barbara Ansell! She wasn't my consultant, but worked closely with my rheumatologist/immunologist Michael Denman who I saw at Northwick Park Hospital from 1982 to the 1990's when he retired. A really lovely, brilliant man. I met Dr Ansell on ward rounds at 8am when she charged down the corridors ready to squeeze her young patients' tender joints. We called her 'Sergeant Major' but she cared about her patients' so fiercely. They were a brilliant team. Were you a patient at Taplow? I have a friend who nursed there and remembers Barbara Ansell vividly as she was a bit of a legend. I only went there for outpatient services, splints etc.

I think they moved most of the children's care to Great Ormond Street eventually. I really missed being with the younger crowd when I was an in-patient.

Like you I have been through the mill with lots of ops and drugs. Also had sepsis in joint replacements which has reared its ugly head again even though the offending joint has been removed, which messes up the biologics treatment.

I also have a very wonderful husband (43 years now but we met at school!) and lucky enough to have had 3 children, with 3 grandchildren now. Our eldest son and daughter sadly have autoimmune conditions which i feel pretty bad about (hubby's mum had severe RA too). But they all say they have lovely lives and seem very happy, so I feel extremely blessed.

I do wish you all the very best of luck with azathioprine and hope it works for you without any repercussions. It is one of the few I haven't tried!

By the way we had the picture behind you in your photo (Aristide Bruant?) since our first home together and our daughter liked it so much she has it now!

Take good care Jenny,
Lizx

Hi Liz,

So good to here from you, and we share quite a few common experiences. I know for many, Dr Ansell was like marmite, but for me, from really quite fearing her as a child, to admiring her so much as an adult, she really did make me cope with my disease, be strong, and yet she was so kind and supportive with anything one tried to do. I used to stay at Taplow, for two weeks starting Boxing day every year between ages 10 to 14, for physiotherapy and testing drugs. I remember, I used to feel so bad, because all the children used to get Christmas presents round a huge tree, on Boxing Day, and I was given presents too, when I had already had such a lovely Christmas Day at home. She believed in surgery to give us the best possible chance, and I'll always be thankful for all her care, she knew and never forgot any of her patients. I too, went to Northwick park in the 70's and 80's , where I had my first hip replacements and it's possible I may have met Dr. Denman, but my memory is a bit dodgy these days. Actually my consultant, Dr. David Joel, at the Nuffield Orthopaedic, Oxford, was a registrar there around that time. Unfortunately, I too, have had joint infections in the last 5 years, in hip and knee. I would love to know how your second infection has been treated, and are you on long term antibiotics. I would love to start etanacept again but am really frightened, these last few years have knocked my confidence a bit.
Well, enough, of the medical history, I could go on and on, perhaps another time. Yes, it's Aristide Bruant in the background, I love Toulouse Lautrec and have had that print since 1980, when I returned from Hong Kong, it now hangs in the room that's my husband's office, where that picture was taken.

I think I have rambled enough for now, look forward to keeping in touch.

Jennyxx

Hi Jenny - thanks for such inspiring words. I'm sorry that you've had to go through so much, but clearly you haven't let this stop you from having a very full and happy life. My husband and I like to travel too and when I got my diagnosis I was a bit alarmed to think that I might not be able to go away as often. So it's good to know that even with JCA from such a young age, it's still possible to be adventurous - I guess it's necessary to adapt and get organised and never give up!

We have family out in Australia and hubby would like to go visit - I didn't fancy such a long flight when my symptoms were uncontrolled but now I'm optimistic that I can get it sorted sufficiently and can start planning again. Meanwhile, we've booked to go for a few days to Paris (without the tragic teenagers!!!!!) and I intend to spend as long as possible in the Musee D'Orsay with all the impressionist artists!

Cheers - Sylvia xx