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...

2,179 Members
16,355 Posts
0 Online
Muscles & Bones
/ Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

xrays/what do they look for?

ThisToo
ThisToo
since I just had a LOT of xrays done ; ordered by the rheumy, but I don't see him for 3 months again so wondering in the meantime, what do they look for with RA , in xrays??
I know I have had osteoarthritis since at least 1990.....my first time knowing that was an xray of my neck which had osteophytes or little jagged pieces and also my neck curve is backward !
kyphosis my chriro said....(I had to stop going the chiropractor since my neck is so bad and they could help my back pain some , but not my neck)
my spine also has bad osteoarhritis.

now in my first appt. with the rheumie recently he said I have RA but he is trying to also rule out "erosive osteoarthritis" which I have no idea what that means.
I know my osteoarthritis has been told to me , before that it is "degenerative"; but erosive, what does that mean?

so what is the difference as far as xrays goes, btw, osteo and rheumatoid arthritis changes?

He thinks I have Lupus too ; does THAT show in xrays or just BW?
I has assumed I did not have Lupus after my PCP did BW and the antibodies for something came back negative; I forget what but I looked it up at the time and from my google search I thought it said that means no Lupus-
sandi7213
sandi7213
OA is normal wear an tear, it happens with aging and lots of use, my neck is also the same way, bulges and bone spurs and fusion together is all normal, the RA will show swelling and inflammation, most of my x-rays showed no RA damage, only on MRI did erosion show up. erosion is when the inflammation eats at the bone causing it to be jagged and start to misshape, this can go for a long time until surgery is needed. there are plenty of injections that can be down for OA.
I wouldn't stress over the x-ray, could be helpful or could show nothing which is just as frustrating.

keep us posted on your results
hugs sandi
deleted_user
deleted_user
My rheumie told me my x-rays were to establish a baseline before treatment for my lungs and joints-that way that as my disease and treatment progressed and they had to take more x-rays they had something to look at to compare from the beginning
pcreamer
pcreamer
My rheumy said it was a baseline, she said she will occassionaly take x-rays to see if there has been any further deterioration from when I started. Maybe what they are doing for you as well! As far as the Lupus I have both also, I test positive for the ANA or the double stranded DNA but negative for the rest of the lupus blood work up, they say its lupus with me becasue its not only diagnosed by blood test but also by symptoms, that may be why.
sandi7213
sandi7213
yes, that try about the lungs, I wish my rheumie would have said that about the other x-rays lol

hope you don't have lupus, it's hard enough with RA, OA and usually fybromyagia

great info, this is helpful for all of us