Doni,
The next time I go to Walmart, I'm going to have to check out the carpal tunnel braces. I don't have any nodules. I'm not sure how you are but most of my flares happen in my legs and in my hands. I had liver problems when the doctor had me on sulfasalazine and had to stay off meds all together to get my liver count back to normal and boy let me tell you, the pain was excruciating. It took me 10 minutes to go to the bathroom at night and its right next door to our bedroom. It took forever to stand up and walk. I scared so many people in my family...including myself. With the methotrexate, I only have a very rare flare up. My feet hurt some in the morning and I'll ache more if I overdo it with anything. Other than that, I feel okay.
You are taking 12.5 mg of Methotrexate a week if you take 5 pills. Mine come in 2.5 mg tablets. My doc has me maxed out at 20. I finally got of prednisone. I was on that for a year or better.
More personal info...I got 4 little fur balls of my own. I have a long-haired gray granny kitty...she's 8 yrs. old. Her name is of all things...Kitty. Also have 2 tiger stripe cats. They are Mom and son (Sara and Junior). Juniors not so little. He's the biggest cat we have. And we have a white cat with an orange tail and orange ears. He's our recreational hunter. His name is George, but when he goes on his little killing sprees, we call him Ted Bundy.
TTFN for now. I have to go give Tiana her good-night hug and kiss. Kayla and Nicole are already tucked in and out like lights. C ya tomorrow.
~chris

Hello Everybody...Just touching base. I haven't read all your posts yet, but I will. I can't sit here long. I know things will look up soon...Joanne

hello!
chris,i believe the brace will realy help you especialy at nite!
its worth it.
my flares are in my feet and hands.
my feet will burn so bad i cant stand to let my feet touch at nite or ill keep them out from under the covers.
it drives me insane!
MY THOUGHTS ARE WITH YOU!i understand completely.
you have a perfect family!
furkids and all.
lol!
i like george aka ted bundy!
thats to funny!
have a great day chris!

joanne,hi there!
hope everything gets better for you,post when you can.

Good Afternoon Ladies hopeing that you are having a pain free Monday including you Joanne!!!!!!! Chris you have the perfect family of the little kittens besides having 3 dogs have 3 siamese who all are related to each other really love to watch them play at times get mad at them as they can mess things up in the house so I feel at times my kids never left as these are just as messy I know how you feel with pain in your feet have been there many times it is no fun with the burning!!!!!!!!!well ladies got to get busy so have a great day Rita

Hey gals...
Checkin in after along day. I had to work today and then helped the DH clean his place of work tonight. The kids are all down for the night and I'm about that way too.

Rita-we did have dogs too. A bassett hound and a golden lab. Very busy dogs. Our neighbors weren't to fond of them. We never took puppy training classes and we lived out of town for a long time so when we moved into our house last year, they just weren't socialized enough. We aren't sure what happened but they got out of the yard and the bassett hound bit the neighbor. We didn't want to take any chances on it happening again so we had to get rid of them. Very heart-wrenching thing to do.

Doni-What's your little furballs name? My dad and stepmom had 2 siamese cats. Oh what am I saying...they had 11 cats altogether. They are now down to 2 cats. The rest have died of old age. Even our boy kitty we had at work. My dad had to put him to sleep a little over a month ago because he fell trying to get out of his catbox and hurt his leg really bad. It just wouldn't heal and he was 17 yrs. old...I still miss him. I catch myself being careful where I walk still so I don't step on him. Or I wait for him to meow. It's hard to get used to. Like saying good bye to a person.

Joanne-I wish you a speedy recovery. You must be sore huh? Post when you feel better and take it easy and be good to yourself.

Charlotte-haven't seen a post from you for a bit. Hope all is well with you.

Anne-Same goes for you...

And...Okidoll, Happy Canuk...where are you...

Charlotte-
Is remicade expensive? Someone told me it was. My insurance will cover it in February when my pre-existing condition waiting period is over. Methotrexate messes with me a little. After I take it, I get kind of nauseated and I get "bathroom troubles" (to be polite). I take folic acid everyday to combat all that. It does help. What in the world is Leucovorin? I've never heard of that before.

Joanne-How are you feeling today?
Doni-Morning gal! Hope you're having a good day too.
Rita-morning
anne-haven't heard from you for a bit...where are you.
okidoll-same goes for you...
Hi to the rest of you. I have to go work on my daughter's Belle costume for Halloween. She loves to be "princess" girls all the time. Fine by me. At least its not scary. I hate the scary stuff.

~chris

Hello everyone,
Yes, Chrily....Remicade is about $3,000 for each treatment. If I didn't have Medicare, I couldn't afford it. I keep expecting them to try to stop paying, but it's been 2 yrs now, & no problem. Leucovorin is a very potent med used against side effects of Methotrexate. The norm is to just take folic acid & put up with the side effects. Only, I had EVERY side effect. One of the worse, is mouth ulcers! I have upper dentures (gee, eveyone's learning a lot about me! ), so that made it even worse. I have the nauseation, also. Itchy skin, stomach upset....ok,ok...gas problems! Food has a bad taste. I have to ask someone else if the food is bad, or if it's just me. The Dr. says stress can cause the mouth ulcers, also....but, he thinks it's the Methotrexate...since I'm so sensitive to everything. It would be pretty expensive, except that I only take one a week....making only 4-5 a month.
Medicare doesn't pay for my prescriptions, I have to pay for everything else, myself, & I'm on a lot. I have other things I'm on prescriptions for...of course,all expensive.
Thanks for the pm....I answered it, so check your mail.
Today's a work day at the TV Station, so gotta go.

Charlotte,
Ouch! Remicade is expensive. I didn't realize it was so much. I'm definitely glad we have insurance now. It took forever for my husband's workplace to find insurance that was affordable. We had it before but it cost almost $700 a month, and they only covered 50% until the out-of-pocket expenses were met. That was impossible because nothing ever qualified for out-of-pocket. Very frustrating. The one they have now, which has better coverage, is only $385. Much better. $20 co/pays for regular docs, and $40 for specialists. My husband has been getting treated for hypothryroidism and they have paid for everything except the co/pays...more than $3000 so far. He goes back next month for further testing. He's had 2 ultrasounds. The first one showed a lump, the next one showed 2 lumps. He had a biopsy done and none of the doctors can agree if its cancer or not. One says yes, one says no, one is not sure. Hopefully its not cancerous.
I've been a member of the stay at home mom's thread and we do a water challenge everyday. You're challenged to drink at least 64 oz. a day and do at least 30 min. of exercise. It helps out so much.
Well I gotta go. While the girls are in school, Nicole and I are going to the pet store to my kitty box necessities and some more food.

Morning to all my RA and OA friends! Praying for a pain-free day for everyone.

~chris

Good Afternoon Ladies just wanted to pop in and say HI! hopeing that your wednesday is a pain free one got one of those days where nothing is going right:frown: so will be glad when it is over for me so the rest of you have a good one Rita

Hi All!

Nice to see that we've got new people! Hi Doni! . Glad to see that Joanne is up and posting a little...hope you feel better soon.....or as close to "better" as you can get!
All is well on my end.

Deb

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