My thoughts:

1. Having more than one autoimmune is far from uncommon and trying to track down which came first can be maddening and usually futile.

(For myself, it was not an autoimmune that led to RA by apparently, unbeknownst to me, it was likely Hepatitis C. I was diagnosed with RA in the 1970s, and not diagnosed with HepC until decades later but the most likely source of the HCV was illicit drug use in the SIXTIES, which preceded the RA diagnosis. HCV is known to cause RA), soo.... I am now cured of the HCV but still have the RA!)

2. I seem to be a broken records about this, but I am thinking it is possible that you may have Sjogrens Syndrome (another autoimmune I have which is very common for those of us with RA). Chronic cough is one of the symptoms. If you also experience dry eye or dry mouth, you might explore that venue further with your rheumatologist.

3. In addition to the HCV, I also believe that the *onset* of my RA was triggered by stress and in particular threats my ex-husband made to me that I kept in denial to friends, family -- and MYSELF!! That kin of trauma is toxic. Just a theory, who knows. But the timing is right for the onset of the RA.

I have read a lot about trauma, including childhood trauma triggering RA in adults. Sort of like a time bomb waiting to go off.

I have always had sensitive skin and seborrhoea. My father had it too, but he never got RA, although I am convinced he was the carrier for my RA gene. Getting on a really expensive salon shampoo cleared up the Seborrhoea. And I use a coconut oil cream on my body, which has helped the dryness. But is that a root cause? Or the allergies I had as a child that were never properly diagnosed, I was just given cortisone cream to rub on the itchy, red spots. I guess I outgrew whatever I was allergic to - looking back I favour peanut butter as my biggest allergen. But who knows?

I seemed to outgrow those allergies, till I got very sick with asthma and lung problems. I used to go to the ER daily to get a nebuluzer full of meds so I could breathe in my late 30's and early 40's. No wonder I jumped at the chance to get allergy shots. My allergist figured that have lots of babies upset the hormonal balance in me, resulting in severe allergies. I wonder how much a bad whiplash injury and the stress from the pain and dysfunction of that affected me, too.

Then, did the allergy shots trigger my severe RA? Or would I have had it anyway? Then, there's the fibromyalgia, the Sjogren's and who knows what else.

The thing is, despite myths of a medical system which will keep everyone alive forever, it doesn't happen. Everyone gets sick sooner or later. Sometimes seriously, including autoimmune diseases, and sometimes not so seriously. We age, the body deteriorates. Of course, after 18 years or more with this disease, I am getting old, so I probably am rationalizing that is why I am sick - because by 62, I am old.

Except my parents were healthy, traveling, golfing and building houses at my age. My father with the seborrhoea got congestive heart failure as a disease in his late 70's. Except after he passed away, my sister and I had an autopsy done on his heart. He had no risk factors or congestive heart failure at all. He was a former professional athlete, and even kept in shape when his heart started to fail. He ate well, wasn't overweight, didn't smoke, and rarely drank more than the occasional wine at dinner.

The autopsy revealed Amyloidosis. 99% of his heart was made up of the Amyloid protein, which was wrongly produced in his bone marrow, instead of the correct heart tissue. (Amyloid is the protein that is deposited and wrecks the brains in Alzheimer's patients)

Amyloidosis can be an autoimmune disease! But there is really no way to diagnose, except a biopsy, which means taking a chunk out of the heart. I always wonder if my dad had been on some of the meds we are on, if it might have stopped the progression of the disease.

And then there is my mom. She is 86, and other than some nasty oestoarthritis because she wore out her hips golfing, she has nothing wrong with her.

I guess I inherited the wrong genes!

PS I've been asked all my life by every doctor if anyone else in my family has RA and the ansi is NO, tho one cousin has Lupus.

I wonder how many here know of a family member who has or had it???

@WarriorGal

I read up on Sjogrens Syndrome actually by reading one of your other responses I believe. When I read about the cough part I was elated but of course bummed out at the same time. I was like, "YESSS maybe this is it"!!!! But then i said, "Ahhh man is this really ANOTHER thing I have"??? Damn!!!

But I don't have the dry eye, dry mouth syndrome thought. I'm still going to explore that & see what my Rheumy thinks so if it wasn't for your input & this forum I probably would have never stumbled across that possible syndrome. So I really appreciate your input & don't ever think it's sounding like a broken record because you never know who may be afraid to ask or respond & MAY just have it. Ya never know!?

@ MarleneJ

May I ask what was the shampoo you used to get your Seborrheic under control? Was it the prescription strengthen Nizoral? I used that for severe dandruff I had like 20yrs ago, it was so good the dandruff really never came back, at least not as severe.

If something else let me know I'd like to try it. Because I have it around my eyebrows, corners of my nose & sideburns. It's so annoying!

I am always researching something with RA. Like Warriorgirl, I was in a very stressful marriage. He was abusive in every way and I could feel the stress taking a toll on me both physically and mentally. That is when I knew I had to end the marriage. It took a few years to finally feel myself again mentally, but some of the physical aspects continued. Then last year things started to progress and that alone was depressing because of the not knowing what was going on with me and the symptoms were so vague because they could mean a lot of things. I felt relief when I got my RA diagnosis because then I could research and make adjustments in my life to hopefully keep it under control. As for this running in the family, my aunt on my father's side has it, but we don't know of anyone else. On my mother's side I had a great aunt that had lupus and my mother is checked regularly for the lupus because she is borderline. My mother also has a couple of other other autoimmune diseases (diabetes and fibromyalaga,) going on, so I have been really focused on taking care of myself.

Hi there everyone! So, I have had RA for ten years now and have been on various medications. Noticed two white patches on my right hand two weeks ago: vitiligo. Goodness, I did not have the slightest clue it would affect me. Am a bit worried, to be honest. if it is just that and won't spread, I could live with it, but what if it just spreads? Trying to stay positive...

I have spent the last 1 1/2 months since finding out that I have RA, trying to figure out why. I don't get it. My ex was likely to get it because his Dad had it, but it was the last thing I expected. My son is now even more likely to get it with his Dad's side and now me having it.

It frustrates me to no end that I have something that they are not even sure what causes it and they can't fix it. I guess it is better than some of the other problems out there.

I don't have anyone on my Mom's side of the family that has gotten RA and everyone is healthy, no one has had a major disease or issue as of yet, Grandma is 85 and pretty healthy.

I have no clue if it would have ran in my Dad's family since every besides my Aunt and I and our children passed away prior to age 32 from Ehlersdanlos syndrome. I do wonder if there is a connection there, but I doubt it.

I have always been healthy as far as flus, colds and such, I haven't had cold or flu in 10 + years. I have gotten a little sensitive to allergies in the past 2-3 years. Started having the dry eye thing a bit over a year ago. Started getting sick in the mornings if I cough or have a stuffed up nose about 2 years ago. It all seems to have started within the last few years. All of these things I ignored for awhile, not thinking they were a big deal, except they annoying eye watering. I did have a strong immune system.

As far as injuries, I fell when I was 14 and the Dr's thought that it may have been the cause of my spondolythesis in my back, but they said it could have been genetic also. That was really the only major problem I had ever had. After 20 yrs of chronic pain I finally had surgery on that and thought I'd have a pain free life and I have for the last 3 years prior to this. I would think that if injuries could trigger RA, many more people would have it.

Yes. Yes.yes.

Seborrheic dermatitis a young adult that was undiagnosed. Terrible environmental allergies and allergy shots as a child. I had developed Food sensitivities as I moved more into adulthood. I got a bad bad viral gastroenteritis about 13 yrs ago. My digestive system was never the same. About 8 years later it was ulcerative colitis, reactive and rheumatoid arthritis.

The DMRDs esp the methotrexate changed my life back. I can exercise and eat all kinds of things again. I can have coffee for the first time in 4 yrs. Was a big coffee connoisseur before RA and colitis.

Just wondering, are you on high blood pressure medicine? Believe it or not, some can cause coughing. Believe me my hubby's cough drove me nuts. Changed his lisinopril to something else, and cough went away (gradually but very noticeably).

Well I sure don't have the answers but like everyone opinions & story.
Perhaps it starts with a weakness or tendency. Genetic or not.
The list has grown of possibilities.
Im a firm believer in stress related problems.
My problems started in the spine & shoulder.
2 years for a diagnosis. As tests did not show severity of the injuries.
It was crystal clear I lost range of motion & the pain was evident to anyone with eyes & a brain. Frustrated the heck out of the doctors.
Fast forward 2 surgeries 11 months apart. In between symptoms of RA appeared. Swelling & joints freezing up. Because of the trauma & pure exhaustion I chose to blame it on other things.
The smartest thing I did was keeping a journal.
I went back & read where & when it started.
Now RA & auto immunes are part of my family history. It appears to be growing in numbers.
Genetics IMO play a major role with ones potential health. In fact genetics amaze me. From small things like the shape of ones ear, expressions to the way ones body langauge........
For me I feel I had the tendancy which grew stronger with my stress levels. The trauma of surgery & existing injuries opened that door enough to allow RA & SJ in. As after the second surgery the symptoms of RA were full blown.
The injuries to the spine left me in chronic pain causing a domino effect. From neuropathy to Myofascial damage to RA......now fibro or what ever you want to call it.
Hopefully the list does not grow.
Without journaling it would have been much harder to track back.
I do know this. No test indicated the extent of damage. No doctor can explain why I was left in such a mess. Now RA....no one has all the answers. This new Rheumy believes in listening to the patient over strictly following text book cases. I believe that is the way to learn the how's & whys. Eyes & ears open acknowledging there's a lot of ifs & unexplained... unanswered...possibilities. I'm curious enough to ask him when time permits if he has any views of possibilities outside those dang text books.
Medical science will never hold all the answers. The human body is complex. The way we treat it, changes in food & enviroment matter.
I'm more & more convinced our digestive system is a huge part of over all health.
Just some opinions & thoughts......
Sammy

I ask myself what ISN'T a part of RA now.

I'm a newbie to. Diagnosed late August, started treatment in November. I have had Hashimoto's since my early 20's and I was a huge advocate on that for myself because I knew how I felt and the drugs were not doing it for me. Luckily I had a doctor that listened and if I said, "Let's try this or that." he would. I also knew if you had one Autoimmune disease the likelihood of more was a fact of life.

My Mom has RA and Osteoporosis. But never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get it. Luckily my bone density test was normal.

Are there triggers that can set it off? Yes, I am a firm believer. I know there is not a lot of scientific research on all these crazy symptoms but the good docs go by what their patients tell them. If you have 90 out of 100 saying this sets off a flare...then by gosh there must be something to that! I think that's how many doctors understand and go buy that belief if they are open minded.

Stress? Not enough sleep? Held too tightly onto my reins? Sex? Sleeping funny in bed?

A year before my first RA symptom I got a tooth infection. I took antibiotics but needed a root canal. I never got one. The infection came back and I lived with it for a year. Sometimes it hurts others it didn't. I finally got a root canal. Then a little after that I got RA. I have a book put out by the John Hopkins Press about RA and in it they theorize a lot about dental hygiene and RA. I think there's some truth to that to.

I've been pretty lucky as mine was caught in the very early stages. Only damage to one finger and almost no pain anymore except the stiffness in the morning. I got a bout of tendinitis on my elbow a few weeks ago and I can guarantee that had to do with the RA. I have it on my right foot and I use to barely be able to put a shoe on, especially a boot. The swelling is still there but no pain.

Yeah, once you have RA I think everything can be related to it somehow.

Interesting about dental hygiene. I've always had good teeth, and I brushed and flossed once a day.

So I asked my rheumatologist whether I might have Sjogren's, considering my opthamoloigst and my dentist were both freaking out about my dry eyes and mouth. One of the things I learned was that people with primary Sjogren's often lose their teeth by their 20's. He said I should keep my teeth clean - brushing and flossing 3 or 4 times a day.

So it was painful getting into the habit, but I like it a lot better having a clean mouth! I am sure my dentist is going to be quite happy I am brushing more. Unless I fire him for pushing his diet cures! LOL

I forgot to mention I got hypothyroidism at the same time as RA. I was always expecting it, since my mother got it quite young. Now all the women in our family have it. My daughter got it at age 16. It was very difficult, because she wouldn't see a doctor, because she wasn't old, and therefore didn't have it! She lived under a quilt, walking, sitting and sleeping. And took a lot of hot baths, when she was not sleeping. Now she takes the same dose as me, so she has it quite badly.

And reading further in the posts, I also remembered my mom has vitilago. I wonder if auto-immune diseases are connected or not? Certainly, I got them from both sides of the family, although only my grandmother and a cousin have RA. I guess that is more family with RA than a lot of people here.