Grey Matter - I am so sorry that you are being subjected to this disease. My daughter has behcet's disease, she was dx'd at 14. Auto-immune inflammatory are awful to deal with, and you have every right to be angry and grieve...

I do want to encourage you though. Now that they've made a dx, they can start treating it more aggressively. Don't stop with one rheumy...make sure you get treatment. I also want to tell you that diet can make a world of difference. My daughter eats a very clean, mostly vegetarian diet. There are anti-inflammatory diets all over the web, but our fav is Clean Cuisine - A Complete Anti-Inflammatory Diet and Exercise Program It makes a huge difference in energy and pain level.

I was on mega doses of prednisone for over a year from auto-immune/inflammatory disease brought on by aggressive chemo/radiation. I am in remission from cancer, but still battling the auto-immune stuff. I follow a strict vegan diet, and a book by Joel Fuhrman called Eat To Live has helped me so much. I have lowered my pred, which started at 1000 mg a day (no I did not add an extra zero), down to 5. Doing well.

Much luck to you, please pm me if I can be of help.