Hello..welcome. hope you had a good holiday.
Who diaged you with RA? A primary care or rheumatologist? What did they decide about the bone scans and the medication Atimidex that you are taking? Did they say the medication was the reason you were having spinal/ bone pain? Is it relates to the pain in your feet, did they think? Did they say your cancer had spread?
I'm just wondering what the connection might be and what your rheumatologist thought. In the state's, most rheumatologist start with methotrexate. In Europe, most rheumatologist s begin with plaquenil. For they discuss dmards of any kind with you instead of just an NSAID? Not knowing who diagnosed you is crucial to answering your question. And wondering if they suggested it was related to any of your other conditions.
Best of luck. Sun

Sorry you have had so much to deal with and now Ra on top of that. My advice would be to read and educate yourself as much as possible about Ra. I would definitely make sure you get to see a good rheumatologist if you haven't done so already. This is a must for anyone with Ra. I have taken etodolac along with a few other nsaids for my Ra. All of them should help but some work better than others just depending on the patient. I have found ibuprofen works better for me than the others. The problem with the etodolac is that it's treating the symptoms and not the disease. Your feet may get some relief but it's doing nothing to stop the joint damage that ra brings along. Very few ra patients get treated with nsaids alone unless their ra is a very very mild. Welcome to the board. They are a lot of good folks here with great experience and advice. Hang in there.

Hello, Terin. I'm so sorry for what you're going through. My RA is really bad in my feet and ankles, too. In fact, that's what sent me to a rheumatologist. I was immediately put on prednisone to see if it helped me. It certainly did, so that told my doctor I had an autoimmune disease.

Then he put me on methotrexate and folic acid. The MTX has helped my feet a lot, so that I no longer have to use a walker much anymore. I hope to get on a biologic, too, because I feel like I could be feeling even better.

If you haven't already, you should be seeing a rheumatologist, since they specialize in RA. Best of luck to you!

Hi, sorry you are having a rough time. I started with very mild symptoms of RA nine years ago. The rheumotolgist put me on etolac with permission to take up to 1200 mg a day if I need it. Not daily but on bad days. I had been on it at around 600 mg a day for nine years and it was a miracle for pain relief. The last couple of years my pain started sneaking back in and I started trying other drugs like Mobic and Celebrex. They did not help because my pills were not ineffective but my RA had progressed to the point they could not control it.
Like PW said etolac does not treat, slow or stop the RA. The damage is still happening, you just don't feel it. Keep a close eye on your symptoms. Just because it does not hurt does not mean it does not exist. Remember there is NO cure for RA and it will keep raging in your body unless you take something to treat it along with the symptoms.

You have or had both breast cancer and bone cancer so the drugs we use may not be good for you.

I see you are in Montana and there must be a rheumatologist around somewhere and that is who you need to see. A good rheumy will talk to your oncologists and neurologists and other specialists you see for your various disorders and then decide what to give you for Ra. But I can tell you that RA and celiac disease tend to go hand in hand.

Unless you are cancer free, I wouldn't take anything more than what you're taking. If your PCP wants to try anything, I agree with the others who suggest Plaquenil. It's a drug that has been around for eons...literally. Our cave dwelling ancestors chewed the bark of the tree that gives you quinine. Helped with so many ailments that's been used for a lot of disorders. But be aware that it can take up to 6 months to fully kick in but can also be felt as soon as 3 weeks.

Welcome and good luck.............Jen

First off I am so very sorry. My heart goes out to you.
My friend had a double mastectomy Monday. She's a trooper with all your battles I'm guessing your a trooper too. Bless you.
I'm thinking your limited. It may take a comination of more then one specialist to look at your options.
Is your family doc referring you to a RA doctor?
Thinking your other doctors will be notified of this new diagnosis. As they should be.
Your DX is very recent if Etodolac is not helping I'd let the doctor know. There's no reason all your options, what ever they may be, should not be listed. Has to be much more complicated then most but I truely hope you get the help you deserve.
Wonderful people here. I hope you find them as supportive as I have.
Hugs & blessings, Sammy

Hi I was just diagnosed yesterday. My doctor put me on plaquenil. Any advice you can give about how to handle the pain would be helpful and appreciated!!

The things I love using if my meds don't work to take the edge off for me is I wrap up into my heating blanket for my joint and my SpinalCord stimulator too it's like a tens unit but a lot better its inplanted give eletric pulses to the nerves and they program to where your pain the worst and you shower swim or anything when it's on cause its inplanted internal into the spine. The leads go halfway up your spine .

Welcome Barb. Sorry to hear you got this diagnosis. Hopefully, you have found a great rheumatologist, who will treat you aggressively, and NOT take things slowly. The first drug my Rheum put me on was methotrexate. He said that this drug helps 50% of his patients. I was not one of the 50%. Next, a biologic was added a few months later. This is when I was able to get my pain under control. The biologic, along with the methotrexate helped a lot.

For a lot of people, they are initially given prednisone, which helps a lot. I wanted to avoid that if at all possible. Celebrex was enough to cut the pain/swelling down until the other things kicked in.

15 years ago, I was diagnosed with Osteopenia - not osteoporosis yet. Prednisone can thin bones, which is one of the reasons I wanted to avoid that. However, last year, I waited to long to go in for my Rituxan infusion, Celebrex did not help my pain at all, so I did take prednisone for 2 weeks, until the Retuxin kicked in.

This area has lots of information, and a good place to vent, too.