Hi All

I am over in the UK and have developed an artritic condition sice having my second child. In short at 6 weeks pp I got a severe pain in my hip, next day it was my shoulder, then my wrist and the list goes on...4 weeks later I have seen a rheumy who has confirmed it is arthritis...at this point don't know if it is viral or rheumatic, but I have a significantly high RF.

I developed Hashimoto's disease with the birth of my first daughter, so it looks like I may have a prevalence for autoimmune diseases (!) - no more kids for me!

Anyway, I am taking diclofenac and have had a steroid injection. THis is managing the pain, but it is still pretty bad (at least I can move, I was unable to pick up my baby or get downstairs for a while).

My question is - has anyone found that giving up breastfeeding can actually ease the flare of the illness? I have read the prolactin is inflammatory and could therefore be a contributing element to RA?? My daughter is 9 weeks old and whilst I would HATE to give up feeding if it didn't help - I am at the moment not a v good mummy to both my daughters as the pain is quite limiting (and making me v grumpy!)

Hope you are still posting here - it is one of the best threads I have found, and it is so nice to find people who actually understand the level of pain this can cause.

Kaeli xx