Hi everyone,

My name is Louisa, I'm thirty nine and have been diagnosed with RA for about four or five years now (though I am sure I have had it for a much longer time).

I live in Suffolk with my partner and seven year old child.

I try to make the very best of my life whenever possible, but inevitably there are times I am very unwell and cannot function. I am in the middle of a really nasty flare at present and essentially non-functional.

I'm hoping to meet new people here, learn from your experiences and knowledge, and maybe make a few friends.

Louisa

No, my GP surgery is a shambles. So much of a shambles that they have been taken over recently by one from a larger town in an effort to sort it out. Since the new GPs have been there it shows signs of finally improving so I live in hope.

I couldn't get myself out of bed this morning and today was really bad in terms of pain and mobility. However I have just been on another course of steroids because in addition to the normal stuff I had organ/ soft tissue inflammation which was just horrible. And today there was a definite improvement in that regard so that's cheered me up greatly.

Your Community Matrons sound great! I have been going round in circles trying to get my MTX injections for months now as Suffolk will not prescribe them, and I'm under Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge who are competent and prescribe me them. I ended up having to get a months worth sneakily through the post this time. Addenbrookes are trying to arrange a home delivery service for the future.

Jane, I'm married to daddy pig I think

Hi Louisa, and welcome to the forum. Sorry you've had such a rough time recently and hope that things are improving a little for you. As you're already discovering, the forum is a great place for getting advice or generally having a good old moan to people who understand what you're going through.

Hello Louisa and welcome to the forum. I'm Naomi and I've been diagnosed for nearly 2 years. This is a great place for advice and support so it's good you joined up. I hope you can get your Mtx deliveries sorted soon. i get mine from Healthcare at Home and have had no problems so far. They deliver every 8 weeks and take away the sharps bins for me. They supply ample amouts of gloves, cotton wool, needles, aprons, wipes etc as well as a spill kit serious enough to deal with a major radioactive incident! (hehe). I'm lloking forward to getting to know you better, xxx

Hello Louisa

Welcome to the forum. You seem to be having a rough time at the moment, hope things improve for you soon. It's bad that you've had trouble getting your MTX, you shouldn't of had to do all the work getting your MTX. Healthcare at Home deliver mine along with Enbrel and I have found them to be very good, so lets hope it gets sorted and it's up and running soon.

You will get lots of info from this forum, advice and just knowing that you can let off steam, have a moan and we will understand why.

Keep posting.

Take Care

Paula x

Hi Gill,

Thankyou Suffolk's policy is out of sync with with all the surrounding counties at the very least. The GP refused to comply with the consultants prescription and for months now there has been hassle. I took the oral MTX far longer than I should have had to and have had no end flack from the GP surgery. The hospital have been great, none of this is their fault.

I'm in Brandon. Ironically if I lived a mile down the road I'd be in Norfolk and there would be no problem at all.

I am glad your MTX tablets are helping, they do make a difference :)