Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Autoimmune Rheumatiod Arthritis???

I have a friend who was just diagnosed with Autoimmune Rheumatiod Arthritis. Is this like what we have, does anyone know? I haven't had a chance to look it up, but I wanted to know if anyone has any experience with it and help her in any way possible.
Thanks gang!
Sarah

Hey hon, calling it Autoimmune Rheumatoid Arthritis is redundant. Rheumatoid Arthritis is autoimmune in nature. Same as us. Nothing to worry about, beyond the fact that your friend has been diagnosed with it and will need your help in adjusting and getting her feet under her.

Warm hugs,

Hey Sarah:

Same as Kat: "Department of Redundancy Department."

The mechanism (molecular mimicry) is the same, but whereas we don't want to produce the damaging IgA, she should avoid producing IgG. I don't have a lot of experience with this regular form of RA, but can send to You the technical papers. I'm scanning one in now that "proves" it is caused by the pathogen Proteus mirabilis; if You are interested, send an email request before I leave town...next Tuesday!

Good Luck to you each,
John

ditto on what kat and john said.

wendy on here has RA, maybe your friend can read her posts.

the good news is RA is a well recognized autoimmune inflammatory arthritis and thus she should be able to get good aggressive treatment for it. the bad news is RA can be very painful and disruptive, and even with good aggressive treatment, it can still be hard to manage, as wendy has described. but everyone is different, so hopefully she will be able to manage it well and do well.

I have had RA since I was a child and along with the Lupus and AS and everything else I have, they call it an Autoimmune Overlap. RA is an autoimmune disease and a very painful one at that!

Dr. of Redundancy?? )

Blessings.
Possi

Hi Sarah...Rheumatoid Arthritis is in the same family that AS is in, it's an autoimmune disease, I've heard them referred to as the collagen diseases and connective tissue diseases too...my oldest daughter Erica has RA...she leads a normal active life, she hasn't had a flare in over 2 years now...she runs 3 miles everyday and keeps up with a husband, a baby, their house and they travel quite a bit, so tell your friend to hang in there...

Hi Sarah,

Sue's correct - this is what I have and as everyone else has said it's an autoimmune arthritis like AS. The key differences appear to be:

no fusing
no spinal involvement (or not usually)
erosion in joints
involvement of hands and/or feet - they can also be involved in AS but their involvement is part of the diagnosis for RA.

It is incredibly painful but so is AS, I understand. It's treated with the same drugs although MTX appears to be more successful in RA than AS.

I've been fighting this for nearly two years but it's only the last year that it hit me really hard. So far I've had no damage to my joints but I have had extremely high inflammation levels and it's affected my eyes (episcleritis) and my lungs.

I'm currently on celebrex, prednisone, minocyline and methotrexate. If the mtx works, I'm hoping to drop all the others. I'm also using a fentanyl patch for pain management.

If there's anything else your friend would like to know, I'm not the only one on KickAS with AS - there's Possi (as you know) and CC.

HI Sarah

My Mom has RA. She's very deformed in her hands, feet, knees, wrists, elbows, ankles, hips and her spine is not fused but it is deformed, like a big S. She's had it about 25 years. She and her doctors should have been more aggressive with treatment. I don't know what went on in the doctors offices so I can't say for sure. But it is a devasting disease if not gone after aggressively. Like everyone on this board, it's different in every individual.

I wish her much luck and hope she has a good rheumy!
Jewelz

My hands are getting more twisted all of the time as well as knots on my elbows. My wrists are stiff and painful. I can hardly use my hands. My knees are swollen and painful and my feet! Oh, what do I say about my feet. The arthritis is in all of the tiny bones/joints in the tops of my feet.

My back is the worst pain. It is twisted at the top and at the bottom and is loose where the discs pull apart and go where they want to when I bend over or side ways which is why I wear the brace. It feels like the top is going to just meet the bottom any day (like it is going to implode). I have a lot of muscle pain which can be the Lupus Myositis or the Fibro and the AS is something that I have no idea whether all of my pain is from one thing or the other. I told the dr. I really didn't care what he calls it as long as he helps me.

It has been a couple of years now that we have stopped treatment and are just going for quality of life. Pain treatment is it. He says he will put me on big Pred doses when I want to do something like travel or something out of the ordinary. He tells me he wants me to enjoy life all I can because there is nothing more he can do for me.

The Lupus has affected my intestines, my lungs, my heart, my eyes!big time, CNS, joints and muscles.

I am very thankful to be leading as good a life as I am at my age after fighting this stuff all of my life. I am very thankful that I have had good medical care and the means to have it. We are blessed with good insurance (this year anyway). With the crazy stuff going on in our country, who knows what is going to happen. I am at the age where I will be one of those who will be "counseled" on end of life options. I will "counsel" someone! )

I think of you all every day and I pray for you because you are so much younger than I am. I went through all you are going through when I was your age. I just want to encourage you to take care of yourselves. Eat right, exercise, get plenty of rest, learn to say "no", do what the dr. says and enjoy every moment of every day. Well, if not every moment, at least find joy in every day. Enjoy your family and friends but learn when enough is enough. Educate your family and your close friends about your disease. It is wonderful to have friends who understand when you shop or lunch or whatever and you have to call it quits, they understand and say "Oh, let's go home. We always have another day."

Love you all.
Possi

I am so sorry your Mom is having so much trouble. My drs tried to treat me aggressively but I was one who didn't tolerate any of the stronger meds except Prednisone which has done a lot of other damage to my body. I am at 7 mg. now and will be the rest of my life with the increases when needed.

Tell your Mom she has a friend in Oklahoma who will be praying for her.

Hugs.
Possi