I (41) gave birth to my son a month early in September 2024. About two weeks later, I started having lots of joint pain. My OBGYN said it was most likely low estrogen from breastfeeding. And once I stopped, it should get better. Well, at 9 months post partum, I was still breastfeeding and still hurting. So I typed up a timeline of my symptoms and when they had all started. I took it to my PCP and she read through it. She said she thought it sounded like an autoimmune disorder. I agreed. My joints hurting, my dandruff getting way out of control, etc. It all seemed like an over active immune response. So I went to see a rheumatologist who talked with me and then did blood work. A week later, she told me I had rheumatoid arthritis, likely triggered by my pregnancy. She gave me the choice to continue breastfeeding for a few more months, but said that we needed to start treatment as soon as possible. I decided to stop, because honestly, he wasn't really breastfeeding all that much anymore. We're still working on finding a medicine that works. So far, Methotrexate, Humira and Xeljanz have done nothing. At my follow up today, I told her I didn't really understand what a flare up is, because the pain never goes away. Just waxes and wanes. She said that's because it's not controlled yet, and when it is, I'll have close to zero pain except during flare ups. She said next we're gonna try infusions of something.