(Untitled)

[erythrina]

A very brief update, because I can't type for shit, and if I insist on summarizing the last six months here, I will never finish a post. In brief, the last half of 2005 sucked incessantly, with a few exceptions and a flurry of lovely romantic developments at the end. (On that note, congratulations to ceara and cerebrateI'm still fighting arthritis, and so far

Comments

[turnberryknkn]

It's very good to hear from you again.

We're sorry to hear 'bout your troubles, and hope you find some relief.

[_constantine]

Well, poop.

[missysedai]

Oh honey. I was afraid it might be RA. It's such a pain in the ass.

If it makes you feel any better, RA often goes into remission for long periods of time. My first flare (when I was 17) raged for over a year before it stopped, then went away for 6 months. There were some years where I could expect 3 or 4 flares a year, but now they're much further apart and are typically only triggered by extremes in temperature and stress. So there's hope!!

Have you asked your doc about rituximab-methotrexate therapy? It sounds like you're sufficiently impaired enough that you'd qualify for a study.

[erythrina]

I'm talking to the university about participating in studies - they're looking for people for a MRA study now, and doing the paperwork for a rituximab study to start in a month or two. And they've been really enthusiastic about bringing me in. These are the unforeseen benefits of being one of those coveted patients who don't respond to anti-TNF therapy, living in a not-so-big town with a major research hospital.

I've heard from a couple of people, including my doctors, that the arthritis is likely to get drastically better very quickly, considering my age and how suddenly it started, and then go into a normal cycle of mostly remission with occasional flares - not fun, but tolerable. But the waiting is just hell.

[silmaril]

It's good to hear from you.

I hope the situation with the arthritis improves.

I'll be adding shavedkiwi to my reading list.