What is RA anyways

I figured I should write a little bit about what RA is. Rheumatoid Arthritis is not your grandmothers arthritis. I know a lot of people hear Arthritis and think of old joints wearing out, that is osteoarthritis not Rheumatoid Arthritis. Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are the result of your body mistakenly attacking itself. Yep that's right my body is at war with itself. Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) attacks your joints and organs, it is a chronic inflammatory disease and so far there is no cure. RA often looks different from one person to the next, so I will tell you some about My RA.
I have low grade fevers daily, debilitating fatigue, malaise (flu like symptoms) and pain. I have to say the hardest part of RA for me is the fevers and fatigue. I have a high pain tolerance  (I went through childbirth twice naturally and yes I meant to). I can push through the pain and get things done, heck I can even go out and have fun through the pain. The fevers and fatigue kick my butt every time though. I just feel like I am trying to do everything while walking through quick sand. Think of how you feel when you have the flu, can't really get much done right, but my flu never goes away. My RA doesn't respond well to the medications that are out there, and if one does work it usually becomes less and less effective until it just stops working all-together.
The medications for RA are chemotherapies, medications that kill your immune system in hopes that your immune system stops attacking you. Since my diagnosis in 2008 I have been through 8 medications, granted one of those I was allergic to, but still 8 medications in 5 years I really need to slow down one day there will be no more for me to switch to. Right now I am waiting for my latest medication to start working, so things have not been going well for me. I am fevered, fatigued and basically feel like every bone in my body has been broken, I haven't been able to do much of anything. I have my next infusion next week and I am really hoping to start seeing some improvement, anything at this point would be wonderful.
There is a bit on RA hopefully you learned something. Short and sweet for now, because trust me there is so much more to all of this, but for now the pain in my fingers is telling me to stop typing and for once I'm going to listen. Trust me there will be more...

Actemra

So this blog was going to be about books, but what can I say when you live with RA it is always first and foremost on your mind.
I have started actemra. It was a hard decision to finally give up on Orencia, but too many side effects and not working well enough and about a year and a half later I finally decided it really wasn't for me. I just read a wonderful blog by Arthritic Critic that inspired me to write about my med change choice.
When I decide to change meds I research the new choices and always lean towards one more than the others. This time I was leaning towards actemra, for me it was the next level step, orencia is 1/2hr infusions, actemra is 1hr infusion so in my mind next step. So I researched like crazy, talked to people taking it and have this pumped up in my head as THE MED for me. That's right guys this is the one that will work, the one that will make me forget I have RA I will be able to do all the things in the obnoxious commercials for RA medications that make you want to vomit because no one with RA can do that. Well actemra is going to do that for me. Want to know the best part...it actually lists that it helps with fatigue and fever, no other med I have seen lists that so you know it's good. Well I started 2 months ago and I haven't had any changes yet. Ok that's a lie I had 2 less painful days that's right 2 whole days that I felt less pain than I have in say maybe 2 years. I'll tell you if you don't have Rheumatoid Arthritis those 2 days will keep me believing for at least 2 years. Those two days were amazing, a paradise, heaven on earth right here for me to experience...but then wham!!! 

Right back to where I was. I should explain the fever and fatigue has been bad enough lately that I can barely get out of bed, then when I am able I walk like I'm 120yrs old (If I can walk) mostly I hobble around enough to get from my bed to the living room, then occasionally from the living room to the bathroom, if you have RA you know that means doing as much as you can while you are up, so usually some sort of food that requires no effort and refill my water. At this point my teenage daughters are doing the grocery shopping, and my husband and daughters do most of the cooking. I feel like half a human and a burden to them, but what keeps me going...that's right those 2 days. I am convinced after the next infusion actemra will kick in and will be working. It has to, I have plans we are going camping which means swimming, river rafting, bbqing, family visits, nature walks and more, so it has to work.
I hope this isn't too sporadic and makes some sense as the pain is high and that causes major brain fog...but more on that later. For now just wish me luck on my actemra adventures.