Services for people with rheumatoid arthritis

 

Diagnosis

 

 

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Transcript

 

SPEAKER 1:

Once I got in front of the rheumatologist actually a diagnosis happened pretty quickly, or a tentative diagnosis happened pretty quickly, I think is probably fair to say. The first visit I had with the rheumatologist, he suggested that it could be either rheumatoid arthritis or reactive arthritis (which he explained to me as something that would go away) and he then sent me for a variety of blood tests and that kind of thing, to explore which it was; whether it was something that was with me for 3 months or whether it was with me for a lifetime. It was ultimately finding biologics that worked for me and made the big difference. It felt like tick box diagnosis but no major support for the rest of me; so, a more holistic look at me and the impact it had on me.

 

SPEAKER 2:

I did see the consultant who runs that clinic on my very first visit, he asked me various questions about my family history, to which I explained that we don’t have any arthritis or rheumatisms of any nature, or any heart conditions; it seems I’m the first one to get it. So I was then given a steroid injection on my very first visit, followed by a series of Salfazalazine treatment for a period of 9 months, at different doses during that 9 month period, although seeing consultants on a 3 monthly interval basis.

 

SPEAKER 3:

After my first consultation with the consultant at the hospital, I was told that I did have some type of inflammatory arthritis, although rheumatoid arthritis itself wasn’t mentioned at that time and I was given a change in anti-inflammatory drug and referral to a physiotherapist but within the next month to 6 weeks my disease flared terribly and I was admitted to hospital, where I had 3 weeks of intensive physiotherapy and rest and it was during that time that I got the definite diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. It was a good 6 months before the Salfazalazine started working and I did have another trip back into hospital during that 6 months, as well as some infusions of steroid - so the treatment worked eventually but very/very slowly.

 

SPEAKER 4:

When I saw the consultant at the hospital he immediately told me I had RA and he started me off on a very large dosage of steroids, reducing them over a period of 3 months until I wasn’t taking them any more. He also started me on Methotrexate, which I had to increase over the next 2 or 3 months, until I could reach a level that my body would accept (and that was 20mg) and both treatments did seem to help in the short term. I was also taking one DMARD, that I had to come off of and then I had to try and second one but as the time went on my symptoms got worse and worse and I also became quite ill within myself; I couldn't do anything at all.

 

SPEAKER 5:

When I started working it was fine because my condition was stable with the medication I was taking, then I had to come off the medication I was taking because of side effects (it was affecting my liver) and then I couldn't really cope much any more because I was starting to get worse and worse. I was having to take steroids orally and have injections as well and they weren’t putting me on any new tablets, there was nothing else I could really take, so it was quite a struggle really. Eventually I had to give up work because I was taking a different drug but it wasn’t working (it wasn’t working at all) and I was just progressively getting worse and worse; I was losing a lot of weight, I was getting muscle wastage from taking so many steroids and I wasn’t offered any of the latest medication, so it sort of reached a dead-end in treatment - when I went to my new hospital they put me on anti-TNF straight away.

 

 

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