Course of RA?

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I am trying to figure out whether I could have RA. My doctor has

it listed as inflammatory polyarthritis. I have the morning stiffness,

symmetry, multiple joints, swelling, etc, etc. Anyway, one thing that

is throwing me off is something a read in a book that people have

active RX for about 9-11 years and then it peters out. Well my

problems with my joints have been going on for about 19 years. My

diagnosis has changed several times going from some type of arthritis

as yet undifferentiated to Sjogren's Syndrome (14 years ago) to now

this doctor thinking that I have some type of arthritis that is primary

and my Sjogren's is secondary. Now I have been on plaquenil for 11

years and been on prednisone or Medrol on and off for 14 years but

pretty much on in low dose for 4 years. I have been on MTX since mid

June. So was this book right that it couldn't be RA since I still have

it after so many years or is it possible that the DMARDS I have been on

have slowed down the disease so I just have it for longer.

in Space Coast

mchristinad@...

[Guest guest]

Wouldn't it be nice if that were true. A very small minority of people

with RA may go into remission, but that is certainly not the case with

most of us. The book was definitely wrong, or maybe you misunderstood.

There is one autoimmune disease, polymyalgia rheumatica, that does not

cause joint damage and is supposed to go away after a few years. But

definitely not RA!

Sue

On Tuesday, July 22, 2008, at 05:22 PM, mchristinad wrote:

> Anyway, one thing that

> is throwing me off is something a read in a book that people have

> active RX for about 9-11 years and then it peters out.