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Experience with rheumatoid arthritis
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<blockquote data-quote="flutterbee" data-source="post: 200299"><p>I've been waiting for responses because I know you're looking for real life experiences. I haven't been diagnosis'd with RA, so I don't have any personal experience, but I can tell you that they have made huge strides with medications and treatment. A patient my mom has is severely disabled with RA and his wife said if they had had the treatments 20 years ago that they have now, he wouldn't be in a wheelchair.</p><p></p><p>There is tons of info on the internet. I believe the biologics (also called TNF inhibitors), such as remicade, humira, etc, are supposed to be pretty helpful. </p><p></p><p>You can go to the Mayo Clinics website, click on Publications and read studies on RA.</p><p></p><p>I do want to point out that anyone with RA should also have cardiac monitoring. There is a statistically significant increase in cardiovascular disease with patients with RA vs the rest of the population and it tends to present with atypical or no symptoms (often the first sympton is heart attack or worse, sudden cardiac death) and more severe disease...meaning more blockages and more severe blockages. Not trying to scare anyone, but this disocvery is relatively new (last 5 or 10 years) and has been duplicated in many studies. You can find those at the Mayo Clinic website, too. So, the important thing is to get the inflammatory process under control (cardiovascular disease is itself an inflammatory process).</p><p></p><p>I'm not trying to send you into a panic. But, it's definitely something you and your doctor should remain cognizant of. If you haven't had an echocardiogram, I would recommend one. Especially if your CRP (C-Reactive Protein - an inflammation marker) is higher than a certain number...I think 3.1, but not sure.</p><p></p><p>Again, not trying to panic. It's been my experience, though, that so much new information comes out and it's hard for the doctors to keep on top of it all. I believe in being informed.</p><p></p><p>I hope you're able to get some more real life experience help here. There are probably websites/message boards dedicated to RA.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="flutterbee, post: 200299"] I've been waiting for responses because I know you're looking for real life experiences. I haven't been diagnosis'd with RA, so I don't have any personal experience, but I can tell you that they have made huge strides with medications and treatment. A patient my mom has is severely disabled with RA and his wife said if they had had the treatments 20 years ago that they have now, he wouldn't be in a wheelchair. There is tons of info on the internet. I believe the biologics (also called TNF inhibitors), such as remicade, humira, etc, are supposed to be pretty helpful. You can go to the Mayo Clinics website, click on Publications and read studies on RA. I do want to point out that anyone with RA should also have cardiac monitoring. There is a statistically significant increase in cardiovascular disease with patients with RA vs the rest of the population and it tends to present with atypical or no symptoms (often the first sympton is heart attack or worse, sudden cardiac death) and more severe disease...meaning more blockages and more severe blockages. Not trying to scare anyone, but this disocvery is relatively new (last 5 or 10 years) and has been duplicated in many studies. You can find those at the Mayo Clinic website, too. So, the important thing is to get the inflammatory process under control (cardiovascular disease is itself an inflammatory process). I'm not trying to send you into a panic. But, it's definitely something you and your doctor should remain cognizant of. If you haven't had an echocardiogram, I would recommend one. Especially if your CRP (C-Reactive Protein - an inflammation marker) is higher than a certain number...I think 3.1, but not sure. Again, not trying to panic. It's been my experience, though, that so much new information comes out and it's hard for the doctors to keep on top of it all. I believe in being informed. I hope you're able to get some more real life experience help here. There are probably websites/message boards dedicated to RA. [/QUOTE]
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