RA

[bbsam]

So my wife has really been struggling for about two years with rheumatoid arthritis in her ankles and a bit in her knees. She called me two days ago nearly in tears about being prescribed Enbril (at $2500 a month!!!). I remained calm, just reassuring her that we'd just follow what the doctor ordered and hope for the best. But I really am concerned. She's been hobbling around and some days I think just the 12 steps in our house are just too much for her. Anyone have any experience or advice on this?

 

[Tired Driver]

I am sorry that your wife is having to deal with RA. I was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis 2 years ago. After trying difference drugs, I am now taking Humira. This is the equal of Embril. $1300.00 a shot every two weeks. CS pays all but $200. Humira gave me a discount card that brought the price down to $5 for 2 shots. Seems to help an I am able to start weaning myself off of some of the other drugs. I started to notice relief after two shots. I hope this helps. Please believe her level of pain. I have been told that RA is inflammatory arthritis times ten. My pain bring me to tears sometimes. Only 10 more years to retirement.

 

[bbsam]

I never doubted her level of pain but I was guilty of thinking it was like mine. I always tell people that when I turned 40 (almost to the very day) everything felt different--and not in a good way. Everything felt off, everything hurt getting out of bed. I started going to the gym and things have gotten far, far better. I assumed she was the same. Obviously I was wrong. I just hope this new medication works because nothing else has and seeing her in such pain is seriously troubling.

 

[beentheredonethat]

bbsam... First off sorry to hear about what your wife is going through. RA is one of many autoimmune diseases. It's scary to hear how many Autoimmune diseases are out there. I myself have one that you probably never heard of. I do take one drug that has really helped, but that cost is only 80/month. However, that alone only did so much. I also radically changed what I ate, and I increased my use of supplements. I highly suggest you buy the book "Vitanutrients" by Dr Atkins. I gave my copy away to an uncle who had some health problems, but not before I wrote down a lot of supplements I started taking to help me. A few things I remember is he was talking about increasing the amount of fish oils, (DHA\EPA) as well as borage oil (DGLA) and also taking flax seed oil (ALA). He recommended somewhere in the range of up to 6000-7200 mg total of these three combined. I take two fish oil pills (from costco -their kirkland brand gives 684 mg of EPA\DHA per pill). I also take two 1300 mg capsules of borage oil from Vitacost and 1-2 flax seed pills (various sources). He also recommended pantethine\pantothenic acid. There were other items such as Vit C, Vit E, Vit A etc. Please don't just listen to me about what to take. Spend 10-20 bucks and buy this book and read it and then based on your own judgement (and hers) decide if you want to take these supplements. Also, don't get me wrong, I don't think this will fix her up to be 100%, but it very well could reduce the worst of the RA. Good luck.

PS. Another thing she should consider is looking at her entire diet. Another book that I liked was one called "Curing the Incurable" In short this woman was diagnosed with M.S. (another Autoimmune disease). She was an active women who had to utilize a wheel chair. She started an elimination diet and eliminated virtually all foods from her diet and then slowly added foods back in. It turned out for her, that she was "allergic" to lemon and citrus items. She put lemon juice on tons of stuff esp salads. When she was eating "healthy" foods her body reacted negatively to the lemon juice. Once she stopped eating it, she got much better.

Anyways, buy the book(s) and read them and then draw your own conclusions. Good luck.

 

[bbsam]

bbsam... First off sorry to hear about what your wife is going through. RA is one of many autoimmune diseases. It's scary to hear how many Autoimmune diseases are out there. I myself have one that you probably never heard of. I do take one drug that has really helped, but that cost is only 80/month. However, that alone only did so much. I also radically changed what I ate, and I increased my use of supplements. I highly suggest you buy the book "Vitanutrients" by Dr Atkins. I gave my copy away to an uncle who had some health problems, but not before I wrote down a lot of supplements I started taking to help me. A few things I remember is he was talking about increasing the amount of fish oils, (DHA\EPA) as well as borage oil (DGLA) and also taking flax seed oil (ALA). He recommended somewhere in the range of up to 6000-7200 mg total of these three combined. I take two fish oil pills (from costco -their kirkland brand gives 684 mg of EPA\DHA per pill). I also take two 1300 mg capsules of borage oil from Vitacost and 1-2 flax seed pills (various sources). He also recommended pantethine\pantothenic acid. There were other items such as Vit C, Vit E, Vit A etc. Please don't just listen to me about what to take. Spend 10-20 bucks and buy this book and read it and then based on your own judgement (and hers) decide if you want to take these supplements. Also, don't get me wrong, I don't think this will fix her up to be 100%, but it very well could reduce the worst of the RA. Good luck.

PS. Another thing she should consider is looking at her entire diet. Another book that I liked was one called "Curing the Incurable" In short this woman was diagnosed with M.S. (another Autoimmune disease). She was an active women who had to utilize a wheel chair. She started an elimination diet and eliminated virtually all foods from her diet and then slowly added foods back in. It turned out for her, that she was "allergic" to lemon and citrus items. She put lemon juice on tons of stuff esp salads. When she was eating "healthy" foods her body reacted negatively to the lemon juice. Once she stopped eating it, she got much better.

Anyways, buy the book(s) and read them and then draw your own conclusions. Good luck.

Thanks for the info. She's going to start on Humira soon so we are keeping our fingers crossed. She went on our son's field trip yesterday and had to be pushed/pulled up a hill during the nature hike. She tried to laugh it off...i didn't find it at all funny.