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reactive arthritis

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I was diagnosed with reactive arthritis 2 months ago after a bowel infection (food poisoning during chrstmas holiday in egypt) I thought ReA was supposed to clear up between 3 and 12 months, by the looks of things it doesn't.

Inflammation first started in my heel then big toes, both knees, slightly in fingers and now top of neck, giving me awful head pain and numb arm wen wake up.

Iv'e had 3 steriod injections which give you false hope as the pain goes only to coe back in about 3 days.

I take 3 diclofenac a day

1 tablet to minimise bleeding due to diclofenac

4 Sulfasalazine (started 1 a day increased to 4 over a month) only been on sulf a 5 weeks, no side effects but no ease of pain yet.

I take upto 8 tramadol a day for pain, these stop the pain but are very strong they make me really dizzy and I find it hard to sleep.

Is there anyone out here whos symptoms of ReA have gone, need lots of hope.

I have been sick from work for almost 3 months, I'm a 32 year old teacher and find it impossible to teach at moment with pain or feeling I get from painkillers. I was a fitness fanatic too, went to the gym 5 times a week loved it, I haven't been able to go for 3 months, really frustrating, I really want to hear from someone with hope please.

I am HLAB27 positive and my protein levels are around 150 but have been as high as 190.

3 likes, 50 replies

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  • troy27110
    troy27110 Guest

    Posted

    Hello

    I am a 53 year old male. I was extremely active doing yoga 5 times a week and played tennis and mountain biked. I developed sore knees that I thought I injured from doing yoga. About 1-2 weeks later my right shoulder was extremely sore. In 3 weeks my knees were so swollen my jeans wouldn't fit and I needed crutches to make it to the bathroom. Arthritis was migratory and severe. It went to my hands and I couldn't touch my thumb to finger 4&5 without pain. I played keyboards and guitar previously. It went to my wrists and I needed both hands to turn the key in the ignition. When in my shoulders I couldn't even shave without holding my elbow to move the razor. This was now 9 months in with no diagnosis. Later that day I developed food poisoning and about 4 hours later I could flap my arms like a chicken with no pain. That led doctors to believe it was ra.

    Through self research I found diet could help the symptoms so I only ate fruit and vegetables. I lost 51 pounds in 62 days. 213 lbs to 162 lbs. I received corticosteroid in my knees and had them drained. The arthritis would be gone for about a week and then return. Once they decided it was ra I was given pregnezone(?) and that gave me relief for about a month. I was also prescribed methotrexate and folic acid. It is now 10 months later and 6 weeks after the pregnezone and arthritis is returning. I'm also getting stiffness in the spine from my neck to my hips. Making it hard to take deep breaths. I have so many questions now and hope someone can shed some light on with their experience.

    I don't recall getting an infection or being sick before this happened.

    I was a vegetarian for approximately 1 year before this developed.

    I'm no longer a vegetarian as my naturopath though lack of protein may have been part of my problem.

    I can control the pain somewhat through diet but can't gain any weight of course.

    I don't think I have HBLA-27 (?) they did test for it but I can't remember. I will find out again. I had to quit my job as a cable installer and am now in sales.

    None of my doctors have addressed how I got it although tests have been done. Doc says I can't have the typical causes or I would have diarrhea. Yet 7 months after getting it I throw up and I'm arthritis free?!?!

    Has anyone experienced anything like this?

    Thank you

    Troy

  • merrows
    merrows Guest

    Posted

    I am not medically qualified so I cannot comment on the medical part of this, but I can say what happened to me. After food poisoning I had RA and I was unable to move freely my arms of legs. I needed 2 walking sticks for about 6-8 weeks. I could not bend easily and getting in and out of bed was very hard.  

    The symptoms subsided after about 8 weeks and after about 3 months they dropped dramatically. It took about a year for them to go completely.

    • erik59537
      erik59537 merrows

      Posted

      You would be surprised at how little doctors know. I found in my case that I knew more about eye conditions and what can cause them than even the highest callibur of internal eye doctor there is. One Neuro Ophthalmologist even googled what I was telling her as I told her what I believed was going on. 

      Instead of listening to me, both Neuro Opthalmologists decided to mae a diagnosis that was not supported by any facts or symptoms I was experiencing, this lead to my lawsuit being dropped and my eyes to lose even more vision than I already had.

      Several other doctors told me they didn't know anything about what I was saying. Some of them also looked some of this up. 

      Without patients, doctors wouldn't know anything. Without food and drink companies feeding us garbage, they woudl have no patients.....

      I feel we could stop the cycle if we demand heavy regulation on what they can and can not put in our food and drinks.

      Take Tyson for example. They put sodium tripoluphosphate in about 85-90% of the chicken they sell. They can't put more than 0.5% of the meat weight into it, because it could kill you. However, that little that they do put in there can cause cancer, and they know it. I find it ironic that they sponsor relay for life. Perhaps they do so out of guilt for giving us cancer?

    • erik59537
      erik59537 merrows

      Posted

      Did you have RA, or Reactive arthritis? RA is rheumatoid arthritis. If you have reactive arthritis, odds are a rheumatoid arthritis test will be negative, unless you also have rheumatoid arthritis. In which case, OUCH!

      To better diagnose reactive arthritis you should have a HLA-B27 test done as well as a red blood cell sed test to determine if you have inflammation.

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