From your lips to gods ears. That would be so great to know there could be an end in sight. I am recently diagnosed but I hate it. I'm coping but like I said I hate it. It was nice to see something positive thank you.

Kind of an old article 2009.. wonder how much is different.

Lin

Wow, first I have heard that too. That is promising but like you said haven't every heard that before.

Will check out the article, but I don't know about that RA going away. To me it seems you have the diagnosis and with some folks, the RA has not gone anywhere, they may have a mild case where it doesn't bother them. Or they can get away with taking a litlte Motrin or Celebrx and keep going for years. My mom was diagnosed with RA a few years after I was diagnosed. She was on 2 Dmards one at a time. One she was allergic to. The other one MTX she was on for a year or so then didn't really seem to need it. But she has times when her legs may not feel good. We have to take our cues from her on how she is feeling as she does not talk much since she has Alzheimer's. Right now she is on prednisone small dose. Me on the other hand RA has really progressed and progressed. I have been on almost every DMard and Biologic. I am now on Rituxan. All the others I have taken have been have stopped working at some point. I am also on various pain medication to help as well. And even with that I am still in pain on most days. So I wish that were the case that RA cold go awa after a few years. I believe folks have varying degrees of RA and with some the process advances and some they may have such a mild case that it is lying dormant. I am happy for them. I don't know if I would hold my breathe for RA to go away.. I would not want you to be disappointed if that does not occur. My best to you.

I agree with Christine that some people just have a milder case that doesn't cause many symptoms and they just go into an extended remission.

When I was first dx'd I asked my Dr if it ever goes away and she said there's never been a documented case of it happening. Also said that once your labs for Rf and anti-CCP are positive they don't change either. The inflammation markers like crp and sed rate change but not the others. There's still so much they don't know about this disease. The Europeans are putting a lot of money into research lately so maybe that will bring more info.

I wish it went away. Wouldn't that be a wondrous thing?

Or maybe some people have possibly been misdiagnosed and didnt really have RA to begin with? And whatever they did have got better or was cured?

I don't believe that RA can just 'go away', although there is a version of RA call Reactive Rheumatoid Arthritis and that can/will go away. I had this in 2001, caused by a severe bout of salmonella food poisoning. About 3 weeks after being sick, my ankle was swollen and painful, then my knee, then my other ankle, and so on and so on. Because of the level of infection in my body from the salmonella i was diagnosed with Reactive RA. My RA symptoms were severe - twice as bad as what I'm dealing with now, and after about 18 months it just went away. Although I had some joint damage and minor pain from it after that, and suffered some kidney damage, I was in good health for 12 years. Jump forward to 2013, and everything started up again, this time not because of an infection, and was diagnosed with seropositive RA - the regular RA.
My RF count in 2001 was in the 80's, this time only 32.
Reactive RA can happen to anyone after your body goes through a significant event that makes your immune system kick into gear - even childbirth can bring this on. Many people who get Reactive RA test positive for the gene HLA B27, as did I.
So although I'd love to be hopeful that RA goes away - I think this is actually talking about Reactive RA.

But man oh man do I hope I'm wrong.

I wonder, too, if it is the reactive RA they refer to when they say it goes away. I saw my rheumy again yesterday, and she said she thinks mine is reactive RA (reactive to the RMO). Both my RF and anti-CCP levels are high, but I only have symptoms on the left side of my body, mostly my foot. I'm so glad to read the Europeans are studying!

p.s. Follow-up on my nutrition: Since a couple of weeks after cutting out dairy, my symptoms are MUCH better! Have even had 3 days this week I haven't needed a cane. Woohoo!

That's a surprising statement from what seems to be an otherwise professionally written article. To me, the way those words are written makes it seem as if a sizable group of RA patients experience symptoms for 2 to 24 months and then never have them again. In all my years of dealing with RA, I've never heard it stated that way. Kind of bugs me, actually.

Congratulations Lynne, glad it's helping!

Now my mother, advanced RA, had absolutely no RA symptoms for 3-4 years after breast cancer treatment. Just recently she's gone back on the Minocin as some mild symptoms have returned. Her oncologist has seen this happen before. But my mom was his first cancer/RA patient who had never taken immunosuppressant drugs for RA. A pleasant side effect of cancer treatment.

I've never heard of this either, remission yes this no.

My last visit my doctor made a statement that actually impressed me because she was simply being brutally honest.
She said " we really have no real knowledge of what's going on in there". Meaning why RA suddenly changes or stops responding to a med that worked so well.
I sure wish we could be part of that group though.
I'd be OK with RA taking a break for a few years.
Very interesting about the cancer treatment.
Sammy