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...
This all started a yr ago after an injury to my wrist. Well I finally saw a surgeon, and it hasn't healed. I have been med free since may, and the rheumatologist is putting me back on Plaquenil. She said I can take it now, but the surgeon said wait until after surgery for all meds. So I haven't started but suppose I probably can. Anyway, question. Do you tend to have a worse flare after surgery? Anything RA related you can think of to tell me that I can look out for after having the surgery? I appreciate all the info you all can give!
I've only had oral surgery since being diagnosed. It was a full restoration under general anesthetic for 3 days. Both my RA & Sjogrens flared afterward.
The school of thought seems to be that since our immune system is over-active without meds then following surgery it goes into overdrive again to heal the body which can set off a flare. That's also why some docs keep you on the meds like the biologics now. My rheumy & gp told me to stop. The dentist told me not to. I did, since I assumed the rheumy knew better. My mistake. I should've probably just stopped the methotrexate & stayed on the Humira. Impacted salivary glands & uncontrolled pain while being out of the country wasn't fun. They did what they could to keep me comfortable but these things just take time to get over even with meds.
In your case, since you've been off meds for almost 3mo you may be fine since your body won't have to come back from being immunosuppressed.
Good luck. A year with an injury that hasn't healed is a while. I hope the surgery gets everything fixed for you.
Emerald
A tad background for those unaware...I was shoveling a massive amount of dirt. Yes, dirt. I got stuck on a huge clod, and presumed to push as hard as I could. I felt a snap, if you will, and felt severe pain, heat, nausea, the works, work their way through me (originating from the left wrist and spreading upward). After pausing to reflect the vomitus, (yes I made that up!), it finally went nuts and calmed down with my own natural biological pain killers (ever had a massively painful injury and it number up on it's own??? That's what I mean...)....after many visits to x, y, and z doctors...I discovered I have a torn tfcc. Well long story short, yeah. The tfcc definitely is still torn, the (most likely) druj lig is jacked up (is this right?! Distal ulnar radial joint lig...I *think* it was a lot to take in!!!). and we need to do an ulnar shortening. Attempting repair via arthroscopic surgery with potential cutting open to quote, "borrow" a lig my quote "arm won't miss!".
It sounds quite experimental honestly.
So yes, a yr is a long time to wait...not to mention a long time to keep an injury unable to heal properly...I fear! This guy sounds intelligent, and I *hope* he is competent enough to combat all things that might arise unsuspectedly.
It was severely painful. The natural pain killers I was talking about are brain based opiods or as I said "natural biological pain killers". See, when you injure yourself, your own brain produces pain killer neurotransmitters, and I stood still for about 10 minutes until the arm and wrist went numb. A quote on natural painkillers from ScienceDaily.com
"Over more than a decade, U-M work has shown that when a person feels physical pain, their brains release chemicals called opioids into the space between neurons, dampening pain signals."
I had yrs ago tore several ligaments in my right ankle, and I experienced the same thing....wait long enough (about 10 minutes), the injury went numb on it's own. After searching, I discovered this about the brain. Pretty cool!
That was a typo, when I said "and it number up on it's own", that sould say "numbed up on it's own".
It's called a tfcc tear, the druj ligament might need repairing, and my ulna....an arm bone, has shifted and may literally need to be shortened because they can't just shove it back in place. Wish they could, because it sounds painful lol...but I need it done.
I'm a kid of the 90s, jacked up is slang for messed up.
I hope I cleared the confusion!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131010132236.htm