Re: RESEARCH - Cognitive impairment in RA

March 26, 2009

Hi ,

Thank you very much for the information. It has answered a lot of questions.. I

can now hit my Rheumatologist with it now. I've brought it up a few times, but

each time it was " all in my head " . That's the point it is in my head!! The

cognitive impairment and the lack of verbal fluency makes you feel as though you

are on your way to Dementia. The reason i said post menapause was that hormones

can play a part with more or less the same symptoms.

I now have a much more positive outlook thanks to this group and all you

wonderful people. I'm quite a positive person normally but like each and every

one of you, we have our moments. Literally, every day we learn something new.

Very best wishes to et al

x

From: <Rheumatoid.Arthritis.Support@...>

Subject: [ ] RESEARCH - Cognitive impairment in RA

" " < >

Date: Thursday, 26 March, 2009, 12:46 PM

Methods Find Exp Clin Pharmacol 2004, 26(5): 339

ISSN 0379-0355

CCC: 0379-0355

DOI: 10.1358/mf.2004. 26.5.831324

Cognitive impairment in rheumatoid arthritis

Appenzeller, S., Bertolo, M.B., Costallat, L.T.

The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of

cognitive impairment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A

cross-sectional study of 40 patients with RA and 40 healthy controls

was performed. To assess cognitive impairment, anxiety and depression,

the following standardized psychiatric and clinical research methods

were used: the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), logic memory

tests, short and long memory tests, verbal fluency tests, attention

tests, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Hospital Anxiety

and Depression (HAD)/CAGE scale and the Beck Depression Inventory

(BDI). Patients and controls with incomplete primary education were

excluded from the study. Statistics were performed by chi-square test

and by Fisher's exact test. Cognitive impairment was observed in 30%

of patients with RA and in 7.5% (p < 0.05) of healthy controls.

Patients with RA had a significantly worse outcome in verbal fluency

(p < 0.05), logic memory (p < 0.05) and short memory (p < 0.05). No

statistical difference was observed among the results obtained in the

MMSE, BPRS, HAD/CAGE and BDI. There was no significant relation to the

duration of the illness, use of corticotherapy or disability. We

observed a high prevalence of cognitive impairment in RA patients.

Cognitive impairment was not related to clinical and treatment

features or disability. More studies are necessary to determine

clinical impact of cognitive impairment in RA.

http://journals. prous.com/ journals/ servlet/xmlxsl/ pk_journals. xml_summary_

pr?p_JournalId= 6 & p_RefId= 831324 & p_ IsPs=N

Not an MD

March 27, 2009

,

Thanks for this. Like everyone else, it gets old being told " it's all in

your head " , or, " I really don't think it's from RA " pat on the head, see you

next time. I think the jury is still out as to whether or not MTX causes

" brain foggy " side effects or not. My own rheumy is a walking contradiction.

Don't get me wrong, I really like him, and have no desire to see another, but

it

just shows that there is a lot left to be learned. He has told me to use

Robitussin to curb any " fuzzy " effects of MTX an hour before I begin to take it

(which helps!), yet next visit, I'll get there is no evidence or something

like that that MTX causes these problems. Anyway, I'd like to print this and

bring this to him if this is OK.

Also, I had an incident yesterday I'd like to share. I was getting ready to

go to a support group (regarding unemployment). While taking my shower, my

muscles suddenly felt very heavy and I became really shaky. I got out as fast

as I could, did what I had to do, and rested. I seemed to feel OK, so I

drove to the meeting. It was up 3 flights of stairs, no elevator. I went up

and

sat down. I was already feeling foggy so I tried to make a point of

remembering everyone's name and what they said...nope, didn't happen. Then

someone

noticed I was a little spacey looking. He asked me if I ate breakfast. I

honestly didn't know. After the meeting, they helped me downstairs, I mostly

did it on my own, and sat down in the office. They got the nurse and made me

drink some cranberry juice. I was fine, just really tired and " foggy " . 2 of

the guys walked me out and 1 had bought some banana bread and had me eat a

little piece. I'm not diabetic, but being cooler and outside did help, but I

just came home and rested. Here is the amusing part. I called my PCP. He told

me to call my Neurologist. His Nurse told me that with all the stressors I

have and the conditions I have, things are going to happen. I can make an

appointment if I want to. I would probably be better off seeing my

psychiatrist. I told her that I have only seen him twice, and it's just to say

Hi, how

are you doing on your adderrol. I made an appt. for a month away to see the

Neurologist. No biggie. I figure it was just a fibro episode. I'm newly dx'd

with Fibro although I've had it for quite a while. I'm ok today. Still fuzzy,

but functional. Thoughts?

Happy Friday...

Heidi in Mass....

In a message dated 3/26/2009 8:46:47 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

Rheumatoid.Arthritis.Support@... writes:

Methods Find Exp Clin Pharmacol 2004, 26(5): 339

ISSN 0379-0355

CCC: 0379-0355

DOI: 10.1358/mf.2004.DOI: 10