Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

I think it can most definitely affect your spine. WebMD RA area will back me up w/ this as well. My RA doc told me it is one of the signs of RA.

For myself, I had a degenerative disc in my lower spine. I ended up having spinal fusion in my L4-L5 and L5-S1. During surgery, he cleaned out a bunch of arthritis and said I had a lot of pressure on my nerves. This was all before the official dx of RA. Thankfully surgery was a great success and I am glad I had it.

Sounds like when you can, you need to look for a different RA doc.

Chris

I think it can too. I'm no expert though. Until my flare I never had experienced any back pain. After all my xrays they tell me I have slight scoliosis and want me to do PT..never had a bit of pain before march this year. Coincidence?

There is a lot of controversy in the medical field of whether or not the spine is effected by RA. I personally, experience spinal pain when I am in a really bad flare (which is a fairly recent symptom for me), when I questioned my Rheumy about it, he said that RA can effect the spine but it is rare.

I completed a literature search on Academic Search complete, and most of the literature I found confirms a relationship between RA and spinal discomfort. The only way for me to search Academic Search complete is through my school login.The articles are heavily guarded by copyright laws, if you want I can email you a few of them in PDF form but, the school security won't allow me to provide links on DS.
-Kate

Couple of things...

1) Your spinal joints do have synovial fluid.

2) RA is widely known to affect spinal joints.

3) RA can affect tendons, particularly at the insertion points.

4) I think your RA doctor flunked an anatomy course.

Good luck with this. Why did you lose your insurance? I've heard of far too many cases of this happening, just at a point when we should be having a sane, rational discussion about how we can stop it from happening?

I wish you the very best.
doug

RA is known for attacking the 1st and 2nd cervical spine. Those are the ones that hold our head up on the spine!!! If RA is here and not controlled it can actually cause cranial settling. This is when the skull slips down on the spine due to erosion of bony structure. It can cause all kinds of symptoms including paralysis. Don't mean to scare anyone, just telling the truth. Please, please remember that this is a rare complication of RA..

Here is part of an article and its web page:

www.allaboutbackandneckpain.com/.../rheumatoid-arthritis.asp

RA in the spine causes a wide range of symptoms. Pain is the earliest symptom and may be part of the overall joint inflammation that occurs with the arthritis. As the disease progresses, the symptoms that are most worrisome are those that suggest your spinal cord is being affected.

Pain at the base of the skull is common when the cervical spine is affected by RA, and can indicate that the nerves that exit the skull and the upper spine are being irritated or compressed. Pressure on the vertebral arteries can lead to blackout spells when the blood flow through these arteries is reduced when you move your head and neck a certain way.

A change in the ability to walk can signal increasing pressure on your spinal cord. Your gait (the way you walk) may become irregular, and may be accompanied by weakness and problems keeping your balance. This is an indication that your spinal cord is being compressed. Any change in the ability to walk should be brought to the attention of your doctor. Feelings of tingling, weakness, or a loss of coordination can affect the arms or legs. Changes in bowel or bladder control such as incontinence or inability to urinate can also occur.

Like you, I was in a pre-RA diagnosis, car accident a few years ago. Like Chris, I had the spinal laminectomy. At the same time I had started to experiance other spinal problems. My cervical headaches send me to the ER. Until the RA diagnosis, my DR's were confused about the problems. With the diagnosis I am now on the right treatment track. All in all the general consensus is that the accident accelerated the RA.

Hi there,
I am new to this site, but along with my RA, I have Cervical Spinal Stenosis, Sclerosis of the entire spine and Sclerosis. Not only do I have Severe RA, but for me to actually move anymore is a chore. I just started methotrexate, after trying the steroids and Naprosyn. I am completely new and scared of this whole RA thing>

I had lumbar spinal stenosis so severe it affected my bladder function and required emergency surgery (a triple laminectomy and partial discectomy). I was 22 and there was no obvious cause. The surgery left me with nerve damage to my feet and legs. Then, six years later, I started having cervical spine pain and hip pain. That was my sign that this was something sytemic, and led to my RA diagnosis. The fact taht I have so much nerve damage has complicate my RA treatment a bit- I have pain in my feet, but it's hard to say which problem is causing it. No one has confirmed that my lumbar problems and the RA are linked, but I have my suspicions.