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...
Just diagnosed.... Reading and learning from your posts. I called my rheumatologist office for another appointment. So if I understand correctly I should ask for something to stop or slow down the progression of this disease...if it stops or slows down then I will no longer be in pain. I am surprised how fast my RA has spread. First in my feet for 14 weeks...still there but not as bad...now in my hips and hands... I thought it would take time to travel to other parts of my body. I am in pain all day.....5 months ago I was painfree. My life has changed.
I'm not endorsing Limbrel. If you read above, I was the person that mentioned it being holistic. My last post is about her doctor maybe wanting to do research on more mainstream RA meds or possibly consulting with a renal specialist before blindly writing a script. I think she is making the right choice by going back to see what other options this Rheumatologist has come up with for her.
Regardless of what you or I think, it is her body and her choice to continue with this doctor or seek help elsewhere. Although I may disagree with people choosing to manage RA with diet and other holistic concoctions, I will always respect their choice. My dicussion of Limbrel above was meant to be a non-threatening, non-judgemental way to broach the subject to see if this was indeed a choice or if she needed more information. I'm sorry I wasn't more clear.
Kim
I didn't think you had endorsed Limbrel and appreciated you identifying it as an holistic product.
My concern is that Crystal has a rheumatologist who apparently can't remember that Limbrel, the holistic product, is for osteoarthritis and not for RA. And that's why I'd go rheuma-doc shopping.
Everyone gets to decide what they put into their body. True.
But my concern is the progress of Crystal's disease. It's not being managed. And it points to the importance of educating oneself on the various treatments, etc. We have to remember that half of all doctors graduated in the lower half of med school......and some at the bottom.
As far as Fibromyalgia, well...........too often it's a dumping ground.
If you are experiencing symmetrical symptoms and the typical RA joints, your labs may still be normal. But you may still have RA.
The reason we are all still stressing this is because RA is not just a joint disease. Yes, the joint disease can result in a lot of pain and joint deformity, but RA can affect other systems in your body and those problems can be life-threatening. We just want to be sure you are getting the best shot at early treatment, and that starts with a correct diagnosis.
Good luck!