Interview 12  

Interview 12

Age at Interview: 76
Sex: Male
Age at Diagnosis: 74
Background: Chartered mechanical engineer, married with one adult child. Member of several arthritis organisations, an Expert Patient for NRAS and attended 'Challenging Arthritis' workshops.

Brief outline:Diagnosed mid-2000 after rapid onset. Side-effects from sulphasalazine with hydroxychloriquine. Currently Methotrexate, NSAID, Losec, Celeximab and Paracetemol. Some steroid pulses and planned knee replacement.


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Being in pain and generally feeling unwell with the RA made him feel depressed but taking a short term anti-depressant helped.

 



And he, he's been good even since and I talked about depression. There was one occasion when I was so, in so much pain, I, my wife came home and I was crying on, over the, I'd been doing the washing-up and you know you have to, I'm left-handed, you have to hold a plate, this arm's absolutely giving me excruciating pain and I was really, I was really at a low and I just burst out crying. She, she called the GP and he was good enough to put in an appearance about an hour later and he gave me some panadol, one of the uplifting drugs, you know.  

And I took those for, one every other day for about a week and that did the trick, you know it got me up a bit. And all I was looking for then as I kept telling people, was 'cos I was on this sulfasalazine and the hydroxychloroquine, and then all I kept telling people, all I wanted a lift from this awful feeling, total body feeling, quite apart from the aches, which were one, which were a major thing, it was all the other attendant feeling in the body and mind and all I wanted was a little lift and once I got that I was starting to get away, you know, and these tablets you know which  well I suppose, it's, I, they're like drugs, what's the name for them, it begins with, begins with a P, you would, you must know them but I don't, my wife would know them immediately.  

But anyway they're, as opposed to the downers they're the uppers and you know, they, they were very beneficial, taken at that point. I wouldn't want to keep on with those because they are, they probably could be addictive, I don't know.  

But I elect to stay off those things as much as I possibly can and, but they did the trick for the time so I suggest to anyone that gets into that parlous state that those drugs, anything like that can be, if it's taken in moderation in the right way, can be very beneficial to your situation, at least I found it so anyway.

Rheumatoid arthritis
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