Any advice for newly diagnosed sufferer or Rheumatiod arthiritis?

I am a 26yr old female and I was diagnosed with the disease 3 days ago. I get mild flare ups in my wrists and fingers but very reactive to painkillers (Nurofen) and that was between Sept and Nov last yr. Not had anything sicne then and I have been drinking a glass of milk everyday for past 3 months. Doctor checked my joints and said that they were fine but my blood test showed that the disease is active in my body.

Thing is my mum died of aplastic anemia when I was 2 as a result of taking gold injections to treat her arthritis. So you can imagine my intial shock when the docotr told me. I guess on a comforting note, medicine has advanced alot of the past 25 yrs so I guess I have that on my side. My moto is attack the disease before it attacks me and I am a frim beliver that you are what you eat therefore I am hoping I can control this with my diet as well as medication to keep the disease at bay.

So i guess my question is can I still lead a normal life by making changes where necessary??

I am a vegetarian who rarley eats eggs (eat them once in a blue moon), I drink only socially so like once or twice a month. I dont eat meat. I have 5 portions of fruit and veg everyday as well as almonds. I am also Vitamin B12 deficient and Iron (Ferrtin) deficient.

I am 5 ft 1 and 12 stone so need to lose weight. i have recently taken up running which makes me feel so good and weights and spin class. I really want to continue with these as I need to lose weight.

I have heard that excercsie especially running is meant to be good. I have even read some people have gone into remision with dietry changes and leading active lifestyles.

So I guess my questions are 1) can I continue running 2) can I avoid taking steroids 3) Can I still conceive? 4) what foods should I eat/Avoid?

all help much appriciated

I guess you can say fate brought the two of us here. If you fast forward the age to 55 this month with the exception of being a vegetarian then we're almost the same. There are a few other things, but to go on. I was diagnosed ate about your age when my doctor did blood work and for some reason did a rheumatoid titer. I was very surprised since no one else in the family had it. It was the same doctor that had me go to get checked for pernicious anemia, a disease where your body lacks vitamin B12 that helps your body digest the vitamins and proteins out of the food we eat for our body to function. I also take ferrous sulfate for anemia.2x a day. You are going to need to take an actual vitamin c supplement. Milk isn't enough. Now for your questions the best I can from experience. Good news is there isn't anything to keep you from running or conceiving, but I am going to advise you that once you're pregnant to pump up the protein and watch the iron. Your baby will be taking everything from you so the healthier you are, the healthier your baby will be. You need to be fully devoted to depriving yourself of some things you may not ordinarily do, or the opposite. I'm in the USA but you could stand to lose about 40 pounds ( I think 1 stone =12 pounds). There isn't any reason to stop running or any other routine things you want as long as the doctor okays it once you are preggers. You can and do go into remission, sometimes for years so look forward to that. Could never figure out what caused it but stop stressing, and keeping as stress free as possible does wonders for all the health issues. I haven't had to take steroids for the RA yet so I'm praying I won't have to for awhile. I know I'm out of remission right now, but I'll live. Because I had some accidents ( broken bones and back etc) in my life I do go to pain management. I don't know if you have doctors that specialize only in pain and anesthesia there but we do here. So he keeps me pretty pain free. As far as foods to avoid or eat, that is really up to you and how you feel. On the last note you're exactly right about the medications used. I do remember having some gold shots in my back maybe 30 years ago, but that was going out of use back then. I really hope this helps and you can email me at the avatar name I use on yahoo at yahoo.com if you have any other questions you think I can help you with. Good luck and God Bless

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