Also.....was on predisone.did not help.

I am not a doctor. I offer no advice from anything other than my own experience. If I were you I would not ponder your question for more than thirty seconds before FINDING A NEW DOCTOR.

I was diagnosed by my family Dr in late Jan, 2013. Got in to See the RA DR first of March......family doc got me the earliest appointment available for April 4th but I called the RA office every morning until there was a cancellation and I went post haste. Was started on Plaquinel and meloxicam, added methotrexate about 4 months later......cruised on that combo for about ten - fourteen months......big bad flares began occurring so Plaq was dropped and Humira was added. OMG, amazing! Trucked on for a little over a year and flares/deformation began, lungs started producing/filling with fluid so dropped Humira in favor of Actemra and switched the methotrexate from pills to shot and added low dose prednisone (5mg/day). Been doing pretty well for a year or so now.

YOU MUST BE YOUR OWN AND BEST ADVOCATE!! A lesson I learned on this site.

Yes....that's why I joined this group! I want to read and learn from everyone's experience. Thank you for your post.

Run, do not walk to a new doctor. See a rheumatologist, and get off the Tylenol, which hurt my liver badly when I was on it for whiplash. Plus, having liver issues makes it harder to take some RA meds! Tylenol is probably harder on your body than some RA meds!

Meds stop the progression of the disease. That is much more than pain control, but stopping joint deformities and organ damage, including brain fog. If your feet hurt, they are probably being damaged.

I've been on meds for 20 years. I have bad deformities from the early years, when I was under medicated. I also have bad deformities from the last two years, from an on-going med failure, till I found a med combo that works. I take three drugs, 2 DMARDs and a biologic. If I don't I can't get out of bed, literally!

You may have mild RA, but it could get progressively worse if you don't hit this disease hard at the beginning. Certainly, that was my experience.

I hope you will go on meds, and not listen to this doctor. Seriously, what kind of doctor tells his patient that they have a serious and debilitating disease, but just tough it out till you are in a wherl chair, because meds are bad for you?? No, RA is bad for you!

At the very least get another opinion. We are talking about long term damage here if left untreated.

Thank you!

Absolutely seek another opinion.
Who diagnosed your RA and how was the diagnosis made?
Get copies of whatever tests have been done, keep a diary of your symptoms and any treatments, and bring all that to a rheumatologist.
Definitely be cautious about tylenol as chronic use over time can definitely damage your liver as Marlene mentioned.
Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Welcome, DITTO - and make sure you get a RHEUMATOLOGIST! Good luck!

I hope that's your former doctor. Maybe you don't need meds. Apparently, some don't, but be prepared for the consequences. I agree with the other comments. Run.

I do see a rheumatologist...he said meds have a lot of side effects. He did give me a sample of Limbrel 500.....he said takes 10 days to work I am on day 4. I have bad kidneys stage 3...so most pain relievers I cannot take.

I had not heard of limbrel so had to look it up.
In case anyone is wondering....here are a couple of excerpts from the prescribing information.
Limbrel is the first prescription medical food (MF) product specially formulated for the clinical dietary management of the metabolic processes of osteoarthritis.
The flavonoids in Limbrel restore the proper metabolic balance of inflammatory metabolites at the cellular level on cyclooxygenase (COX) pathways, composed of the COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes, thereby effectively managing osteoarthritis while minimizing common side effects. In addition, Limbrel metabolically down-regulates inflammatory metabolite production in the LOX pathway composed of 5-LOX. Limbrel also promotes a strong antioxidant activity in the body that limits the metabolic oxidation of AA to metabolites which directly degrade cartilage. Limbrel's broad-based management of the metabolic aspects of osteoarthritis allows for a high level of safety and effectiveness for this disease state.
LIMBREL (flavocoxid) is classified as a medical food, a regulatory category distinct from drugs and supplements. Limbrel is a proprietary blend of two types of flavonoids, Free-B-Ring flavonoids and flavans, from Scutellaria baicalensis and Acacia catechu, respectively. These ingredients in LIMBREL are Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS), a regulatory requirement for medical foods. For an ingredient to be recognized as GRAS, it requires technical demonstration of non-toxicity and safety, general recognition of safety through widespread usage, and agreement of that safety by experts in the field

It seems to be mostly compared with NSAIDS - specifically naproxen - based on my very quick search. I did not see anything in their info regarding comparisons with meds typically used for the "treatment" of RA -- DMARDS and biologics. (It is also not approved for RA).

I would be concerned that, like other patients given NSAIDS or prednisone or narcotics for pain, you are not getting treatment for RA to help prevent damage and joint destruction. Pain control is very important, but that is only part of the problem,

The medications many of us take have possible side effects, and a lot of people have significant side effects. But there are also a lot of us who have minimal or no side effects. And then there are those who choose to deal with side effects because the alternative is way worse.

I would suggest you at least get a second opinion, and then you can make an informed choice about which regimen you would like to follow.

Your situation with your kidneys certainly adds a complicating factor. I don't know what your stage 3 means, but obviously it's important that you and your doctor know and it's not something you can just ignore. Based on my own experience, the meds for RA have been a game changer in a good way, but I didn't start out with compromised kidneys. So my experience isn't relevant to you. And that's the downside of online support groups - we don't have the whole picture, obviously.

It's got to be hard to read posts here from people saying "Yay, this med's working" and not be able to give it a try. And if you've got to make a choice between kidney function and slowing down the progress of the RA, well, that's an awful situation to be in, and my heart goes out to you.

So maybe a second opinion is in order. Perhaps there's a way to try one of the meds and be monitored extremely closely (most of us get bloodwork done every few months, but maybe you'd be able to have it done more often?)

Sure wish I had a magic wand when I read stories like yours. Please keep us posted on developments.

Thank you doodlebugs!

Thank you Katie......I will get a second opinion.