Re: A Few RA Questions

December 13, 2006

My rheumy uses the C-reactive protein blood test to monitor my RA. Most

of the time these days it is at a normal level. I would think that this

would be an indication of whether your regimen is working or not.

Sorry, I can't answer your question about lupus.

Sue

On Wednesday, December 13, 2006, at 09:59 AM, kuehnlej wrote:

>

> I am still trying to get a handle on all this. So here is where I get

> confused. Does pain and inflamation in joints mean that joint damage

> is taking place or can the damage be stoped by meds but the pain

> persist? I am taking remicade, methotrexate, folic acid, and

> prednisone. Should my sed rate and other markers for inflamation

> return to normal if they are working? My rheumatologist continues to

> bring up the possibility of lupus. What determines if it is lupus or

> RA and why would it take years to determine or " show itself " as my doc

> says?

December 13, 2006

Hi! Happy Holidays to all you wonderful members of this " Aurthur

Club " I have not posted in months but I have been reading as

possible. I can't believe it's that time of the year again! I know

this coming year has to be better than this year. I pray it is so

for all of you & yours. Merry Christmas!!!!

I recieve alot from this group. From your heartfelt feelings and

questions and answers. Thank you to ALL of you who I consider

family. These health problems for me have proven to be a very lonely

existence. Alot of fear and then working hard to have faith. I have

a very hard time as I hate living with such pain and never knowing

if I'm going to be able to walk upright or not. It's hard. I was

told on top of the r/a that I now have lupus. , could it have

come from the enbrel I was on for years? Or the prednisone that I

can't seem to get off of? I will never shoot the messenger. I

love you to much for that. 's e-mail really touched me as

I'm sure it did many. I miss my computer and my home. Not much has

changed with me other than my health has been terrible. I keep

counting my blessings and fighting the negative thoughts. It's a

daily struggle. Your all in my prayers for strength and courage as

we continue on this difficult journey. Please forgive me if I sound

depressing. I don't mean to sound so.

Keep having faith and praying that a cure will be found.

With all my love, Marie- CA & Philly

> >

> > I am still trying to get a handle on all this. So here is where

I get

> > confused. Does pain and inflamation in joints mean that joint

damage

> > is taking place or can the damage be stoped by meds but the pain

> > persist? I am taking remicade, methotrexate, folic acid, and

> > prednisone. Should my sed rate and other markers for inflamation

> > return to normal if they are working? My rheumatologist

continues to

> > bring up the possibility of lupus. What determines if it is

lupus or

> > RA and why would it take years to determine or " show itself " as

my doc

> > says?

>

December 14, 2006

-Marie,

As many times as someone says, " I'm no doctor " , there are those of us with at

least 'experience' to converse about these dreadful diseases.

I was diagnosed with Lupus in 2005, within 3 months it was Primary Billiary

Cirhosis (this one scared me to the devil out of me), 3 months later I was

diagnosed with RA (this is my real painful problem), then came Autoimmune Hep.

Once you have an autoimmune disease you are prone to others. The auto immune

system is compromised and just won't stop. I don't think your years of Pred

caused it, my doctor says being on pred for so many years was not good, but that

it probably saved my liver. Go figure. Once again Prednisone is the good; the

bad; and the ugly. But, I don't think it brings on an autoimmune disease.

Patsy

El Mirage, AZ

DX 2005 Stage 1 PBC

AIH/SLE/RA/COPD

Just a woman of letters....

December 15, 2006

,

Joint pain and inflammation do have a correlation with joint damage, but you

can have pain and inflammation and no damage. Surprisingly, you can also

have little joint pain and inflammation yet have damage.

Since RA is a systemic disease, getting the inflammation under control is

very important. Much more than your joints may be affected by ongoing

inflammation.

Physicians do use markers such as sed rate or CRP to gauge response to

treatment.

Having symptoms of both lupus and RA is common, having both diseases is not.

Sometimes, especially in the early stages, it is difficult to determine

which disease it is. RA and lupus share many symptoms, but the underlying

disease mechanisms and their affect on the body can be quite different.

Your rheumatologist has to look at your clinical presentation and your labs

and try to sort it out. In rare cases, a person has both diseases.

One of the biggest sources of confusion is that a significant percentage of

patients with RA are positive for ANA (and, when using anti-TNF agents,

positive for more specific antibodies normally associated with lupus) and

many people with lupus are positive for RF.

Unfortunately, sometimes it can take a couple of years for a disease to

fully declare itself.

Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

[ ] A Few RA Questions

> Hello,