Anyone with Rhumitoid Arthritis? (sorry, can't spell)

[tahini16]

I was wondering if anyone here has had a diagnosis of RA? I had a lump in my foot over a year ago, it was surgically removed, tested, came back a big question mark. My pod. thinks it's RA because it came back two weeks after my surgery. My foot is killing me and the pain shoots up my leg. From doing research, I found that a lot of people consider IC to be an auto-immune disease. RA would make sense if that's true. I'm only 32 so they think it's a pre-curser to full blown RA. I'd like to know if anyone suffers from it, what do you take? Because of the Elmeron, I don't want to take any more blood thinners. I bleed enough and bruise easily already.

Thanks!:confused:

[tigger_gal]

I was told I had it, I also have, fibro, myofascial pain and brutitis. I get all sorts of odd pains.

[sphinx]

I have RA, as well as fibro. What other joint symptoms do you have? Usually the pain is on both sides of the body (in my case, sometimes one is worse than the other at a given time), also are you very stiff when you wake up? How long does the stiffness last? Have they done any blood work? If they do bloodwork and your RF comes back negative, you can still have RA..it is called "seronegative"...that's like me. Lots of other people have that too.

I take several meds and have not had a problem with a blood thinner effect. I just let the dentist know before he does his work, etc.

Make sure you get in to see a good rheumatologist. If you have RA, getting early treatment is vital.

Sorry you're going through this. My RA is flaring really bad right now, and I am not happy! Hopefully it's just a 1-2 days thing...sometimes weather or stress can do that. Otherwise my medications have helped soooo much. Without them, I can't help but wonder how damaged my joints would be right now. Before we got my meds just right I was using a cane and on disability through work. Now I am working part time, and haven't used my cane in over a year and a half!

**gentle hugs**

[tahini16]

I have my blood test in, haven't taken it yet though. I'm waiting until I go for my second MRI for my foot. My podiatrist thinks it might be the precursor to RA since they don't have any other answers for me. Last May, I had a bump in my foot removed. They first thought it was a cyst but the lab reports came back "unknown". Lovely! I have to have surgery again to remove a bigger piece this time. It came back less then two weeks after they cut it out the first time. This time, it's bigger and more painful. I only have this one area on my ankle/top of foot. The entire right side of my body is messed up from head to toe. I get the fun morning stiffness for about a half an hour each day. Sometimes, when I get out of bed, if I step on my right foot first, I fall flat on my face. It's awesome! I haven't been diagnosed with anything else like fibro. or chronic fatigue. (thank goodness!) I'm starting to think I have fibro though.

Glad to hear the blood thinnners don't have any adverse affects on you. My doctor is very cautious about prescribing me them because I have a hard time clotting and I bruise easily anyway. The Elmiron is bad enough. I figure either way, I'll survive! Gotten this far! I'm also in school for graphic design. Good job I can do near a bathroom and sit all day!

Thanks for the help!:smile tee

[sphinx]

Are you seeing a rheumatologist or just the podiatrist for this? because you really should see a rheumatologist if you suspect RA.....a podiatrist really specializes in the feet pretty much.........RA is an autoimmune condition, which starts to stray out of the podiatrists scope.

As far as lumps and RA goes, all I'd ever heard is what is referred to as a "nodule", which usually appears over a bony prominence.....is that what your doc thinks you have?

In terms of blood thinners the only things that would be thinning the blood really would be the NSAIDS (anything from advil/ibuprofen and naproxen/aleve to prescription NSAIDS, as well as a COX-2 inhibitor like Celebrex). Also prednisone may or may not have that effect, as well as many other crummy side effects.

Those only control inflammation though, which is good and can control pain somewhat, but do nothing for the disease. If you have RA you would need to get on to some kind of disease modifying agent.....it can slow down but not reverse the disease process. It can go into remission as well. I take a combination of these meds, as well as Celebrex daily for inflammation and pain. For flare ups I take prednisone, but I try to stay away from that because of side effects.