Hello everyone, it's my first time to post. I thought I might ask for an opinion on my current drama with RA. I was diagnosed with seronegative RA in Aug 2007 and was in active treatment of methotrexate injectables weekly and Humira weekly up until Nov 2009. At that point, I rebelled and quit all meds including my antidepressant which wasnt a smart thing to do. But I felt terrible and had all these different meds in my body and felt like I was being poisoned. So I quit everything and then gradually added my antidepressant back in which ultimately made my state of mind much better. And as far as the RA, I treated my pain with Darvocet, Tylenol as needed. I was getting along pretty good for the most part. Carpal tunnel was another issue that I had been dealing with along with the RA. In April, 2010 I got my right wrist released and had a long recovery from that. Finally in October that wrist started being mostly pain free, then the left wrist started acting up to which steriod injections did not help so in December I got it released. I felt this hand was responding better as far as pain level for the first several weeks. Then the last week of the year, I woke up one morning with both my hands very stiff and ultimately in the shape of a C. It has progressively been getting worse not better. Each morning very tight, stiff and difficult to move. I eventually get it worked out and can function but every morning it returns.I cant make a tight fist during any part of the day without feeling pain, both wrists are tight in the morning but can be worked out during the course of the day. I am scheduled to see my surgeon this week and will discuss it with him. Hopefully he will give me a Medrol dosepak which I am sure will eliminate the issue for awhile. I also have an appt with a new Rhuemy but can't get into see him until March (he must be really good). I just don't want to see my old RA, its not that I don't trust her...well maybe not completely. I have always been in denial of RA. First seronegative sounds just that NEGATIVE. My CRP has always been elevated, no RH factor in my blood, however the ANA test was speckled. And the whole disease is confusing to me. How can you feel fine and then overnight feel so bad? I guess I just never felt like my diagnosis was correct. I was worried I was being treated for something I didn't have and the side effects of the drugs scare the hell out of me. There is a lot of cancer in my family and I sure don't want to take drugs that will bring it on. Any thoughts? Is RA really that unpredictable? I used to have swelling and pain in ankles, knees, elbows, wrists and all my fingers but currently wrists, hands, all fingers seem to be the focal point. Thanks for listening. One more thing, what brought me to this site was a previous post asking who a good rhuematologist in Austin TX was. The new one I am going to is Dr. Monty Tew, I have researched and have seen positive reviews. Anyone here know of him?
