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...
hi there,
I'm new here. I saw my rheumatologist for the third time this week, after several months of pain, stiffness and swelling in both hands, wrists, and hips. I've faithfully taken naproxen to no avail. She tried me on 20mg/day of prednisone, which really helped the swelling. Based on this and my symptoms (all my bloodwork was negative except the ANA, which was a low positive), she's started me on methotrexate. I'm slowly trying to taper off the prednisone.
My doc says it's definitely an inflammatory arthritis, and if she had to pick she'd say it's early RA. My question: has anyone been diagnosed with a different form of inflammatory arthritis? Is there any difference in treatment if it is not really RA? Is my doc being too aggressive with the treatment? Thanks for any input!
I'm new here. I saw my rheumatologist for the third time this week, after several months of pain, stiffness and swelling in both hands, wrists, and hips. I've faithfully taken naproxen to no avail. She tried me on 20mg/day of prednisone, which really helped the swelling. Based on this and my symptoms (all my bloodwork was negative except the ANA, which was a low positive), she's started me on methotrexate. I'm slowly trying to taper off the prednisone.
My doc says it's definitely an inflammatory arthritis, and if she had to pick she'd say it's early RA. My question: has anyone been diagnosed with a different form of inflammatory arthritis? Is there any difference in treatment if it is not really RA? Is my doc being too aggressive with the treatment? Thanks for any input!
Your MD is not being too aggressive with treatment. After prednisone and anti-inflammatories like naproxen, methotrexate is next standard treatment. Many have very good results with this drug! :)