LeAnn Boehm

LeAnn's Story
by LeAnn Boehm

I would like to tell you about the last couple of years and what it’s like to live with rheumatoid arthritis. My freshman year of high school was difficult for me. Not only was adjusting to a new school hard enough, but also it was hard finding new friends. I played softball and was proud to be on the team; I was one of the best hitters. I also played some Varsity softball. About half way through the season, my knee started hurting me, then my wrist, and then my ankles. The only thing the doctor said was, “It’s sprained—no softball for a week”. I missed most of the second part of the season. I couldn’t play, so I sat on the bench most of the time. After softball season, I was still in pain. My mom kept telling me, “LeAnn, it’s growing pains, it will be okay”. I told my mom that I wanted to see a doctor about the pain. The doctor said that he wanted to run some blood tests to see if anything “popped up”. The day before Valentine’s Day my doctor called and said that he wanted me to come in as soon as possible, so I went to see him that day. He then told us that my rheumatoid factor was the highest he’d ever seen, even in an adult; I was only 15 at the time. He sat down and told us everything he knew about the disease. He told us that there would be a lot of changes in my bones and joints. I shrugged it off and thought to myself, “I’m the healthiest in my family. Stanley’s and Dad’s hearts are bad and Mom keeps getting hernias all of the time. I can’t get sick.”

My doctor referred us to a Rheumatologist and two weeks later I saw Dr. Karen Rice, M.D. At first I thought she was crazy; I was okay. The Sunday after my first appointment with Dr. Rice, I woke up about 4:00 a.m. and I couldn’t move—it hurt too much. I thought that if maybe I would roll off of the couch and onto the floor, I could pop my back, but I still couldn’t move. I couldn’t yell for anyone to help either, my jaw hurt too much to talk. Luckily, my mom got up and I asked her to help me because I couldn’t move. She got me into the car and took me to the hospital. At the hospital, they said that this severe type of attack could happen about once a year. After receiving three morphine shots it still hurt, but they said I could go home and rest. I was unable to walk for three days due to the morphine and the pain. The doctors told my mom to keep me calm and to give me pain pills every 4-6 hours. After the attack, the doctors started me Prednisone. If I’d known then what I know now, I’d have never taken it--I would have just lived with the pain. I’ve been taking it since the attack and my body is now addicted to it. If I skip a dose, I get pains everywhere.

Over the summer after my freshman year, I didn’t have any problems and I was still active; my sophomore year I started to play softball again. The first day of conditioning I was doing well. After practice, the new coach wanted everyone to run some sprints. After running, I started to throw up—I couldn’t even keep water down. My mom was out of town so I went home and took an ice cold shower to cool off. I kept drinking water and just kept getting sicker. When my dad came home, he called his medical supervisor at work and asked him what to do—he said to drink water. My dad went back to work and I laid on the couch and fell asleep. When my mom came home a little while later and touched me, she said that I was ice cold and sweating. I was so scared. She then took me to the hospital where they tried several times to put in an IV. They had a really hard time with the IV since I was so dehydrated; an hour and six nurses later, they finally got one in. They pumped in fluids as fast as they could and afterwards they took my blood pressure. My heart was racing and my blood pressure was high; I then had to drink a giant cup of water as fast as I could—luckily my heart slowed down. They sent me home and I had to rest for a week. When I went back to softball practice, the coaches were afraid to make me run or do anything for fear of making me sick. The whole softball season was shot. After a while I started to play again, but I still got sick very easily.

This past November was a bad month for me. My right wrist, elbow, and fingers are all starting to cripple. I’ve had to get Cortisone shots in my fingers so I’m able to write. This is also happening to my knees, hips, jaw, and ankles; they’re all starting to give out.

My physical difficulties I can manage, it’s my mental attitude that I have more challenges with. If I tell someone that I have rheumatoid arthritis, I feel as though I get looked at differently than before. For example when I found out about my tests, I told my best friend in the world; she now thinks that I since I can’t run or walk as fast as I once could that we can’t do fun things like we did before. I still do normal things. I still go out on weekends but I don’t drink alcoholic beverages. I’ve found new friends that know you don’t have to drink all of the time to still have fun.

Another problem that I face is how to tell a boyfriend that I have rheumatoid arthritis. I find it really hard to just come out and say that I might be crippled before I’m eighteen. Luckily most of the guys I know already know about it, and most of them will help me find information about it.

My medications are also another one of the things that bother me a lot. Saturday’s through Thursday’s I take about 11 pills a day and on Friday I take about 18 pills. When I spend the night at a friend’s house and have to take my pills in front of them, they’re always scared that the pills are going to hurt me. The worst part about the medicines are the side effects, for example, with the Prednisone, I’ve gained 25-40 pounds. That’s bad for me since I’m supposed to stay in shape for sports. Also, with all of my other medications, Celebrex, Plaquinill, and Methotrexate, some days I can’t eat anything because they make me sick to my stomach, but I still gain weight. I think I could deal with all of the medicines if I didn’t have to take the Prednisone-it’s really changed my life. My doctor says that for my height (5’2”) that I should only weigh about 119 pounds. I told her that when I get off of the Prednisone that I’ll try harder to lose the extra weight.

With each passing day, I feel different. I just hope that my arthritis slows down and stays calm for a while. With everything in my life, I try to make the best of it. I’ll do anything to make someone smile and think that making someone happy is the best feeling in the world.