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...
was just recently Dx'd with RA. So I am new to this group and the disease.
Hope I can give and receive good info from the group. I was referred by my Oncologist to a Rheumatologist that I will see for the first time in a few weeks. I don't know what to expect. I have in addition a Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma called Waldenstrom that has been in remission since 2007. I find it interesting that the Rituxan that I had for my Lymphoma is also used for RA. Is that correct? I do not have any pain at all, just morning stiffness from waist down that diminishes after walking around for 30 minutes or so.
Seems like the more I walk the better I feel. Hope I can keep walking for my exercise.
Hope I can give and receive good info from the group. I was referred by my Oncologist to a Rheumatologist that I will see for the first time in a few weeks. I don't know what to expect. I have in addition a Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma called Waldenstrom that has been in remission since 2007. I find it interesting that the Rituxan that I had for my Lymphoma is also used for RA. Is that correct? I do not have any pain at all, just morning stiffness from waist down that diminishes after walking around for 30 minutes or so.
Seems like the more I walk the better I feel. Hope I can keep walking for my exercise.
Yes, there are a number of drugs used for cancer that are used in the treatment of RA and other autoimmune arthritic diseases. However, typically the dose for RA is significantly LOWER than those doses used for cancer.
Many of us here will argue that mobility is highly important. USE it or LOSE it. You just have to pace yourself and not overdo it.
This is a great group of people who can offer lots of personal experiences and insight, not to mention support. No one really understands this chronic disease like other patients.
There's a lot to be positive about. Biologics are outstanding and medical research has really shed new light on this disease.
As far as moving, stretching and all exercises - it is essential. However, when I get really bad, it is not possible. I am finally having some fair days after 14 months of med failures, and now I am stretching and exercising daily, like I did in the past when the meds were working.
It seems like a conundrum! You need to stretch when you are really bad, but you can't. But if you are well enough to almost not need it, you can! Just joking! Exercise always has to be an essential part of our daily regime, whether we have RA or not. But I do believe RA increases that need.
Anyway, welcome to the group and let us know what happens with your first appointment with the rheumatologist.
I hope the rheumatologist you go to re-tests you. I am not sure for your description that you do in fact have RA. It is a-typical, which is not to say impossible.
The "typical" onset is in the small joints such as hands.
If you DO have it, my advise is get on a biologic ASAP. Do not try more "conservative" measures, as RA can and does cause permanent tripping - i know because I have it!
Best of luck.
http://www.hopkinsarthritis.org/arthritis-info/rheumatoid-arthritis/ra-symptoms/
The typical case of rheumatoid arthritis begins insidiously, with the slow development of signs and symptoms over weeks to months. Often the patient first notices stiffness in one or more joints, usually accompanied by pain on movement and by tenderness in the joint. The number of joints involved is highly variable, but almost always the process is eventually polyarticular, involving five or more joints. Occasionally, patients experience an explosive polyarticular onset occurring over 24 to 48 hours. Another pattern is a palindromic presentation, in which patients describe swelling in one or two joints that may last a few days to weeks then completely go away, later to return in the same or other joints, with a pattern increasing over time.
The joints involved most frequently are the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) and metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints of the hands, the wrists, and small joints of the feet including the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints. The shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles are also affected in many patients. The distal interphalangeal (DIP) joints are generally spared. With the exception of the cervical spine, the spine is unaffected.
Nonspecific systemic symptoms primarily fatigue, malaise, and depression, may commonly precede other symptoms of the disease by weeks to months and be indicators of ongoing disease activity. Fatigue can be an especially troubling feature of the disease for many patients. The pattern of symptoms may wax and wane over the course of a day and even from one day to the next. Sometimes flares of RA are experienced as an increase in these systemic symptoms more than discrete joint swelling or tenderness. Fever occasionally occurs and is almost always low grade (37 to 38C; 99 to 100F). A higher fever suggests another illness, and infectious causes must be considered, especially in patients who are taking biological therapies and immunosuppressive medications.
Morning stiffness, persisting more than one hour but often lasting several hours, may be a feature of any inflammatory arthritis but is especially characteristic of rheumatoid arthritis. Its duration is a useful gauge of the inflammatory activity of the disease. Similar stiffness can occur after long periods of sitting or inactivity (gel phenomenon). In contrast, patients with degenerative arthritis complain of stiffness lasting but a few minutes.