Hope

Well, I went to the doctor today and she agreed that my RA is not under control. She gave me the option of changing my biologic or staying on Humira and adding methotrexate. I decided to stay with the Humira and add the mx. I am also still taking the prednisone :( but hopefully this new combination of drugs will help.

I did feel a sense of hope this am with the doctor. I was comforted by the fact that she did not accept the idea that I was still having pain. She mentioned that her goal is no pain. She also said that we would figure out the right combination of things eventually, and that's what her job was. This was my third apt with her and I finally felt like she understood my pain and was on my side. I am hopeful that this new combination of meds will help. Yesterday I couldn't even feed myself with my right hand because my elbow was so sore. I know that I cannot handle very many repeats of a day like that!

She also mentioned that one day RA doctors hope to be able to pinpoint the exact gene that causes symptoms and conquer that sucker before it can even cause problems. Wouldn't that be great! They may even have a vaccine for RA one day. It would have been nice to have known that I was genetically predisposed to the disease. Maybe I could have done things to prevent the onset. For now, I have to live with it and try to outsmart my immune system.

I head back to the doctor in 4 weeks for more blood work and a check up on the new meds. Hopefully I will see a difference between now and then!