Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
By medical remission I mean drug induced remission. It seems like it is much harder to achieve than I was led to believe when I was first diagnosed. I was under the impression I'd get on a medication and all would be fine. Now, after talking with lots of people, it isn't very easy to get to the point where medication allows us to live normal lives. In fact many people have to leave their jobs even though they are treated with medication. Is this because the medication is only partially successful or because we have to keep fine tuning medications? Is it because we are still fatigued or our pain breaks through our treatment? I seek an answer here not just for me but for my wife as well. She has been great and faithfully goes to my appointments with me. My wife does, however, thinks that a medication will control my disease to the point where my RA will be totally under control. Of course my doctor is positive and rarely discusses the possibility that treatment may not be all that effective. I suppose that's to be expected from a doctor.
Greg
Greg
You've chosen to only use Enbrel, so you may not get to the remission you need. There are other drugs you can add to Enbrel that aren't methotrexate that can help if Enbrel doesn't get you all the way there. I wish you all the best...trial and error.
My Rheumotologist who is one of the heads of an Arthritis Research Center is also passive when it comes to possible outcomes. He said the goal is remission - when I asked the meaning of that he said to stop the progression of the disease. To me that means to stop it where it is and not get worse - not to take it all away.
My activity level has improved greatly. I can garden again and go on short hikes. However, fatigue is still a problem. I don't know if the fatigue is from the RA or the medication (MTX). I rest a lot. I go to a gym and do joint-friendly exercises twice a week. I think that has helped.
Everyone's path is different. I realize that my "remission" is likely temporary. While I'm in remission I plan to take advantage of it. I don't ever want to go back to where I was almost two years ago.
In addition to the medication, I have made changes in my diet. I do my best to avoid processed food. I try to pay attention to what I feel like eating rather than mindlessly eating.
Nancy
The medication commercials have hurt a lot of us as patients because they make it seem like remission is just a shot or pill away. Some of us never get it - right now I am trying to get used to being the "me" I am now. i'm getting better with it too.
Don't give up though, because you might get remission, but if you don't, just keep working with what you have.
I'm pulling for you!!!
For a few months I got worse & worse and feared I was the last category. I changed RD's and was put on 40 mgs. of Prednisone a day which tripped my immune system back into normal fighting zone. My symptoms so improved that he proclaimed remission. I didn't- I wanted no pain and still had tolerable pain.
However- it wasn't until I had a significant flare recently that I realized what I should be grateful for...
Wishing you all the best to have an experience like my own- which really turned out well considering....
I hope that you can find the right combo. I was diagnosed 5 years ago. I wonder if all treatments eventually fail, but I guess if that is so, then there other combinations to try.