It is hard to describe my symptoms. When I am mostly inactive, I think my RA is mild. But when I am busy or very active, I change my mind quickly.lol.

I think I am lucky to have a good rheumy. She took me seriously from the get go and we went aggressively with treatment. I am sure without the meds I am on I would be singing another tune altogether at this point.

Take care,
Jess

I have mild RA symptoms, for the most, part. However, it hasn't always been that way. I started off with fast, furious and disabling symptoms, but with time, hard work and (mostly) good drug therapy, I'm better. My doctor took my diagnosis seriously from the beginning.

I started off with mild RA, and it was called Palindromic Arthritis. The flares were bad, but it was usually only one joint at a time, and then it would go away after a day. So I was not given any meds. After a year of that, I went to severe RA, with permanent flares in 75 joints. the sad thing, is that I was still not taken seriously, and I have many bad joint deformities from that time, and no meds but 15mg of prednisone, which did nothing. I finally found a new rheumie, who put me on Methotrexate and Celebrex, but that wasn't enough, but it took another 5 years before I got on a biologic, and finally got the disease under control.

I think you really need to find a good rheumie. Try and find an arthritis support group in your area. That is one thing that really helped me get better treatment. You may be in the beginnings of severe RA, or you may always just have minor symptoms. But aggressive therapy is always indicated initially, because the disease responds better in the first few year. On the other hand, all meds have side effects, some dangerous and/or fatal. There is no perfect answer.

I think if you are in constant pain and have trouble functioning, that should be a warning sign. Don't let the doctors push you away. Keep demanding, until you feel you are at a place that is comfortable, perhaps with a minimum of meds, or maybe lots.

My symptoms or achiness depends on my activity level.

The more I do and move or lift or carry, any one of my joints will be achy later at night just before I fall asleep. It is never the same joint either. If I walk too much it may be my ankles that are achy, while I was baking lots of Christmas cookies every day, my wrists were hurting during the nights. Now that I have stopped using my wrists so much, they have quieted down. If I carry a heavy object, my one shoulder may feel a little achy.

The other day I wore a pair of boots that did not have a lot of support and my one ankle hurt me at night. I feel it is a crap shoot at this point. The good part is it goes away the next day if I rest. That seems to be the way it is affecting my life. I only take over the counter drugs Motrin and tylenol and 1 hydrocodone (generic for vicodin) at night just before I fall asleep and that helps tremendously.

Because of the many side effects of the biologics, I refuse to take them. I do not want to live my life worrying if I am going to die of another disease caused by the biologics side effects. I have my inflammation rate taken every 3 months, and it seems to be getting lower or holding at the same level, no worse with what I am taking, so obviously it is doing something.

Hope this helps you in some way,
Norrie

I do not consider myself to have mild symptoms but the blood tests say I have mild RA. I don't get taken serious by my doctor, but it is kind of funny that his PA takes me serious. I was told for three years before my diagnosis that the pain was all in my head and now I have a doctor who doesn't take me serious. I have really gotten to the point that I don't trust doctors.

My symptoms are pretty mild for the most part. I want to respond to Buckeye28 though. If your rheumatologist doesn't take your illness seriously, I would try to find another doctor. The last thing any of us need is a physician who doesn't consider your symptoms seriously.

for many years my symptoms for flare and be quiet painful lasting usually no more than awekk to 3 wks. This last flare has been horrible. Things can change very quickly. I know the medications are risky, however, when one cannot pull up their own panties, do their hair, bath or use the remote control buttons, it is time to give them a chance. I do not think I could end my own life, but this past few weeks have not been worth living and have totally kept my husband over worked. My rheummy wanted to start plaquenil a few months back, I wanted to wait, the ccp (/) and sed rate as well as CRP were all significantly elevated. I have wished a million times I had listened. Perhaps we could have avoided some of this misery and I would not have pulmonary fibrosis. Helenmp, fl

Forgot to say the reg RA lab is normal. we are all different helenmp