Health history tale

Hey friends,

I was cruising around on my husband's computer because mine is in desperate need of repair and realized I hadn't posted in a while. I joined a group today for those with rheumatoid arthritis like I have. I wrote out my whole spiel of my health history and no one has responded. I suppose it is quite overwhelming...or boring; one or the other. I thought perhaps I would share it with all of you to share a little more about me. A person's health is a big deal in their lives, especially when you start being immobilized because of it.

My story 07/22/05 08:10 AM

Hello,
This is a little about me and my run in with rheumatoid arthritis.
To give you a past history I have been a heavy set person since puberty and had wrist and ankle problems since junior high. I had my bunions removed and my big toes broken and reset when I was 14yrs old. Then, I graduated high school at 242lbs and my feet started hurting so bad. I was diagnosed with plantar fascitis(heel spurs) when I was 19yrs old. I had a c-section with my first child at 22yrs old and a c-section with my second child at 26yrs old. When I was 27yrs old I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism (very high levels of TSH). By the time I was 30yrs old I weighed 370lbs and having a hard time moving with much pain all over my body. (I am 5'5" tall). I decided to get a RNY gastric bypass in 1999 at 31yrs old to rid myself of my weight issues and get back into life. Within one year I not only lost 186lbs, but moved and got a divorce and met my new husband. I had lots of problems with a triple hernia along the incisional line which was repaired in that same year by sewing up the hernias and placing a mesh on top to strengthen the area. They also removed 10lbs of flesh from my lower stomach. Three months later, I got pregnant and was very tired and weak throughout the pregnancy. I gave birth to a daughter with a congenital birth defect and loads of medical problems. Three months after that, I became pregnant again and got even much weaker and had dizzy spells often and memory problems to boot. I ended up getting my c-section almost 3wks early because I couldn't take the pregnancy any longer(and yes got my tubes tied at long last..hee hee). Anyway, we had severe financial troubles, bankrupcy, eviction, medical stuff with daughter etc...and within 2months after moving twice..I ended up laid up in bed with EXTREME pain in allllllll of my joints and muscles. I couldn't move and was constantly fatigued and crying. My newborn son was very high needs and I couldn't even get up to change his diaper at night because my fingers were inflamed and in pain. I went to the doctor within a week of these symptoms....literally shuffled in making no sudden movements and lickety split my doctor ordered blood work up. I had very high levels of RA factor and sed rate and seeing as though my sister came down with RA in her early 30's they gave a definitive diagnosis of RA. I was thrown on methotrexate, prednisone, vicodin, iron, folic acid, and calcium, and an antibiotic. I was put on vioxx a month later (man I miss my vioxx). I went to a bariatric doctor as well to get a check up and he did blood work up and found that the anemia I was experiencing had a big deal to do with the fact that after having gastric bypass, I could no longer absorb b12 and was severely deficient in it. I began with every 4 weeks b12 shots for the rest of my life. (I also have since been put on Humira and have been on it for 2yrs) The symptoms lasted a good long year and I even filed for SSDI (denied) because my husband was out of work due to back injury and we had no money.
The following year I started coming around and decided to start school since I would get financial aid being as broke as I was with 4 children. As I went through school I started gaining more and more weight back and within a year I was back to the old foot pain. I had to get new orthotics and really started hurting more. I am now 37yrs old and am 280lbs. I am miserable that because of the stress I am eating badly like my old ways, and because of the prednisone my body has changed, and because of the arthritis I have been less active. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, I have spondylolisthesis of the L4-L5 region at a stage two. I has been very cranky as of late, and mornings are a real bear to endure.
So that is me in a nutshell.
Nice to meet all of you.