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...

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Sinus infection

hurleymn
hurleymn
Good Morning Everyone. I am new to RA and had my first appt with the rheumatologist last week. I am to have a joint scan tomorrow and then we will decide whether to start Plaquenil or wait. I was also contacted by the rheumatology department to see if I would participate in a 3 month research study for newly diagnosed RA patients - it's just questions, a doctor looking at my joints for swelling, and a blood test at 1, 3, and 6 months, so I told them I would participate.

My question is, if I am getting a sinus infection would this cause my joints to flare up and be very sore? I caught a cold over the Thanksgiving weekend, and today it is almost unbearable. Is this a usual occurrence with RA?

Thanks for your help - hope everyone has a good day.

Jane
camba
camba
Hi welcome to the site. Presume participating in the research is cost free!
One of the symptoms of RA in some people is flu/cold type symptoms so it may be part of what some of us call a flare. I am wondering however if being on this series of blood tests mean they wont give you drugs to control the disease. Although not everyone goes down that particular road it seems to be hard to control without allopathic medicine. The principle many rheumys adhere to is to get patient on to heavy drug soonest to stop RA damage. Well not stop totally as that doesnt really seem possible but to control it early so there are less deformities. So I would just check on all this with the rheumy.

To return to your last question about sinus infection. If it isnt RA itself anything that "goes wrong' will stress you and stress often causes a worsening of the RA joint symptoms. Maybe the stress of preparing for Thanksgiving didnt help either. And of course it is winter over there and that in itself can be a time of worsening symptoms. So your straightforward question may not have a simple answer! All the best.
hurleymn
hurleymn
Thanks, Camba, for the information. This is all new to me, so just trying to figure everything out, and what works and what doesn't. It's an adventure!

Take care!

Jane
lycesq
lycesq
Jane - camba is right on. I had a series of sinus infections (finally had sinus surgery) and never had a problem until after RA hit. Mine turned into infections that couldn't be cleared up so make sure your doc has a good handle on it.

Lynne
Angelpuss
Angelpuss
Hi, Jane, and welcome to this site. I found I had a series of sinus infections and sore thjroats through last Winter, the first winter since I was dx with RA. Whether it is RA or because our immune system doesn't work the way it should, I don't know. As Camba says, stress doesn't help at all. Sometimes I think the RA meds cause it.
I'm still trying to get my head around RA after a year. There's always a new "surprise" waiing around the corner.
Good luck in dealing with the Beast (RA).
deleted_user
deleted_user
Vicious cycle : what do you all do when you are trying to stay on Meds and you get these sinus infections?

I have been trying to get started on Methotrexate several times already and had to stop because of yet another sinus infection..keeps happening over a 2 yr period so I never had chance to get a long enough trial of the drug.
Finally found a decent Rheum but have to drive 50 miles each way to get there....so it is harder to stay on top of things, now.

Any suggestions? Please ...