INFO - Aggressive treatment with DMARDs can prevent disability

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Life With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Aggressive treatment with new, sophisticated drugs can prevent disability.

By Jeanie Lerche

WebMD Feature

Reviewed by Marc C. Levesque, MD

Carla Guillory was in her 30s -- enjoying life, raising her kids --

when the first symptoms began. " We'd been hiking on vacation, and I

thought I had bruised my foot, but it didn't seem to get better. Then

my hands started aching, " she remembers.

Right away, doctors suspected she had rheumatoid arthritis. Guillory

was tenacious about finding the right doctor -- one who would treat

her aggressively. She knew she had to tackle this thing head-on, she

says. And that she did -- with disease-modifying drugs that helped

curb the damaging inflammation at her joints.

That aggressive treatment, and getting it early, has made all the

difference, says Guillory. " I have some deformity in my hands, but not

a whole lot. It's nothing like other people I've met. "

The Changing Picture of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Twenty years ago, the picture for most patients was very different. " A

person in the fairly young part of life would get this disease, and

within five years they would be deformed and disabled. About half the

people with RA had to quit working within 10 years, " says

Lindsey, MD, chairman of rheumatology at the Ochsner Clinical

Foundation in Baton Rouge, La.

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http://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/guide/life-with-rheumatoid-arthritis

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