Hello. Lisa

I am sero positive. Never really been explained it all to me by hospital always seems to be so busy.
What were you told.

I am on MTX . What drugs do your take. Also pregabaline for fibro"

This time on year, re stress is not good for me. Actually although I now only work 11 hours , I am at present off sick.

Do you work

Rose

Hi Lisa,

I too am sero-positive for the Rheumatoid factor and was diagnosed 12 months ago.

I take Hydroxychloroquine, Prednisolone and Leflunomide. Recently I have had two fairly high doses of steroids IM
to control the disease activity - it's made a big difference but sadly it wont last

I to have heard that being sero-pos. means possible increased RA problems but I live in hope.

You might find the link below useful.

http://www.nras.org.uk/a...itive_seronegative.aspx

Hope ll goes well for you

Gogs

Hi Lisa
Being sero positive doesn't necessarily mean increased problems. I was diagnosed in 2009 and have done really well. I take 7.5 mg mtx plus hydroxy and apart from intermittent aches and pains have been OK. I get tired but have learnt to pace myself. I work 4 days a week and look after my 2 year old granddaughter on the 5 th. ( she is the light of my life and I don't care how tired she makes me!) I had a flare recently and may have to increase my meds but compared to many I feel very lucky.
It takes a while to sort out the balance of medication but the meds do work for a lot of us.

And on another note, I saw Santa today - on a traction engine
Sue

Oh my goodness, another thing to 'google'! Don't you feel sometimes having RA a minefield I'm sure there will be a lot of helpful replies

I'm finding the run up to Christmas quite tiring & stressful! I work 20-25 hours a week (Mon - Fri) school hours & the tiring part for me is the after school activities, although I've now limited them to Mon - Wed! Plus, our daughter birthday is Christmas Eve so it's busy, busy, busy

Louise

Yes I agree Paul,especially as we are all different in our responses to RA and our age and family responsibilities.
Anne

Hi Lisa,

Glad you found the link helpful. To answer your question about how long I had had symptoms. I think probably longer than I think in retrospect, but
Last year I found three fingers had become very swollen and painful, I couldn't even move my rings let alone get them off. That was in early May 2012.
It was around the time I was about to go into hospital for a menisectomy. I just mentioned it to the doctor, she arranged for bloods to be taken and two weeks later
she said, 'I'm really sorry but...........' Then the rest is what we've all gone through!

It definitely is a miserable condition to cope with, never knowing from one day to next how you are going to be. I had really bad care at my first hospital, but just in October
I went for a second opinion and I'm truly grateful for the care and attention I am now receiving.

You're right in that there isn't a lot we can do about it. However, I believe understanding it to the best of your ability is a good thing, it will allow you to ask the questions
you want to know about, and more importantly understand better the response you get back.

Good luck

Gogs x


Hi Gogs

Thank you for your reply. I am sorry to hear you have had to have the high dosage of steroids to control the disease activity. Do you mind if I ask how long you had symptoms for when you were diagnosed? I know it is a pretty awful hand we have all been dealt but unfortunately there is not a lot we can do about it is there?

Thank you also for the link it was very interesting.

Kind wishes.

Lisa x

Hi Paul

You are completely right and my husband is always getting on at me - I think I will have to gain more self-control not to google so much.......... Too much info at our fingertips.

Lisa x

Hi Anne

Thanks for the reply, I am in a much better frame of mind this week and getting so many varied replies makes me feel not so alone.

Lisa x