Where can I find stories about people diagnosed w/ RA?

[eternalsunshine]

Hello- I am interested in hearing people's stories on how thier symptoms started and how they were diagnosed with RA. Does anyone know a website where I can find this info or if anyone wants to share thier story here, that would be great! thanks, Michelle

[txsilver]

At first the pain was just noticeable when I went up and down stairs.  It grew to encompass all my body, joints muscles and everything and then that pain just got worse.  Finally it got better when my treatment started to work but that took time - around 2 years to get a dx and over another year for the treatment to start to work.  
I totally understand the elation of getting a diagnosis, even a bad one.  I hated waiting for a dx, to have a name to put on my "nemesis" was wonderful.  I hope you get a dx soon!  Please do not hesitate to change docs as needed in your effort.  Some of us have had to change docs multiple times to get to the right one who can dx you.

[eternalsunshine]

hello!
     Thank you so much for your story.  Do you mind explaining your joint pain? Did it hurt all over all the time? Did your hands and feet every cramp up? Do you know what the rheumy was looking for in your hands? Ive had differant stages of symptoms since April of 2005. At first only one joint hurt at a time and it swelled up. But after a few months it started being more of a widespread thing. The pain is very deep also. Like in the bone. Well, I think it's great that you were finally diagnosed. That might seem strange to a healthy person but all of us who are suffering and have doctors treat us like we are crazy,  know it's a blessing. thanks again.

[txsilver]

This is definitely a place that people may share their stories.  I have RA and AS and a few other things.  I will try to keep my story brief :)

I had been having joint pains, I thought it was from Lipitor so I stopped taking it.  Time drug on and I had just adjusted to the aches, thought it was age.  
I went through a high stress period with work, family passing away, etc.  I was sleep deprived from work and was in a terrible way.  Deep tissue massage did not relieve the pain like I thought it would.  I mentioned this in passing at the docs office.  He keyed in and ran blood work.  He had me come back in for more because of elevations in RA, SED and anti SCL.  Sent me to a rhuemy when it all came back the same.
The rheumy looked at my hands (far from the only part of me that hurt), even MRI'd my hands and kept saying it was fibro.  This did not sound right to me.  After almost a year (I waited too long) I was steadily declining and went to a diff rheummy.  Lucky for me this one was thorough.
What x-rays and standard MRIs did not show well came crystal on a bone and joint scan (MRI with contrast) - almost every joint in my body had arthritis in it.  
I was dx with RA, AS, osteoporosis, scoliosis and a mess of other things.  Because I had so much going on, it was harder to dx me.  This is common with autoimmune disorders - you frequently have more that 1 thing going on.  
Many drug combos later, I was injecting MTX.  I was recently able to quit MTX and am controlling my symptoms with relafen, plaquenil, darvocet and flexeril.
I have only began to regain some normalcy in the last few months.  At my worst I could hardly get off the sofa.  It was a 3 and a half year journey from the first I knew I was on it until now.  Looking back, I know I had symptoms long before that.