When Denise Swanson developed rheumatoid arthritis nearly three decades ago, it was like a sudden storm of pain, swelling and fatigue.

It was excruciating for the then-21-year-old college student just to pick up her backpack. She couldn’t even write. Medication eased her pain and stiffness, but not much.

“I would move like an old lady,” said Swanson, now a 49-year-old special-education teacher. “It was scary.”

But then a few years later Swanson and her husband, Tom, did something that happened to bring total relief from the devastating disease: They decided to have a baby. All of Swanson’s symptoms disappeared about a month after she became pregnant.

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