Archive for the ‘RA Education’ Category
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It’s Simple: Who Gets Dactylitis or “Sausage finger”?
Dactylitis and diagnosis A woman I know is an educated patient who has worked hard to make certain she is diagnosed and treated appropriately. Recently, she showed pictures of swollen fingers to her rheumatologist and had her diagnosis changed again. Her doctor explained that the swelling in her photo looked like dactylitis or “sausage finger.” [...]
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Sustained Rheumatoid Arthritis Remission Is Rare
Headlines can have a curious effect. They’re supposed to make you read a story, but people don’t always read the whole thing. Sometimes they just make you laugh: Lung Cancer in Women Mushrooms, Miners Refuse to Work After Death, Woman Improving After Fatal Crash. 1 With medical topics, a headline rarely tells the whole story. [...]
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Could Over the Counter Undenatured Collagen Supplement (UCII) Treat RA?
Have you seen a television commercial claiming a supplement “works with your immune system” as an over the counter arthritis treatment? Remembering this brand has been marketed to RA patients, I wondered whether the “improved” product would increase or decrease immune activity. So I looked for research on the ingredient “UCII” (undenatured collagen type II). [...]
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RA Disease in the News, Vol.7: Increased Atrial Fibrillation Risk, Steroids Reduce Citrullination, Self-performed Joint Counts
3 interesting Rheumatoid disease news items I knew you’d want to read! 1. Steroid injections found to reduce citrullination in synovial tissue with Rheumatoid disease Researchers found that steroids applied directly joint tissues had a specific affect on disease activity that methotrexate did not have. Glucocorticoids (dexamethasone) decreased citrullination and PAD (peptidylarginine deiminase, an enzyme [...]
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Preclinical Rheumatoid Disease: There Are No Joints in the Lungs
My mom used to read to me John Godfrey Saxe’s 19th century version of a famous Indian legend, The Blind Men and the Elephant. I’m certain it contributed to my zealous love of evidence. Over the last couple of years, interacting with thousands of people with Rheumatoid disease, I came to the conclusion that only [...]
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Rituxan Decision: Serving Humanity or Taking Care of the Patient (Me)
This is one of those rare posts about my personal medical journey, a Professional patient post. That’s kind of a warning in case I use the word “I” too many times to be polite. It’s crunch time. No one can decide but me. About a year ago I hit the end of the line with [...]
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10 Reasons We Might Want a Musculoskeletal Ultrasound (MSUS) of a Joint
Back in 2009, dozens of phone calls revealed no one in our area who could perform a musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS). Today, worried about my son, I made calls again to orthopedists and hospitals. When I called the top medical centers in our region, I found one ultrasound technologist who had heard of MSUS and she [...]
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Are Biosimilars Justice in Competition for Biologics Like Enbrel?
The FDA definition of biosimilars and a pathway to approval Biosimilars are pharmaceuticals that are similar to biologics such as Enbrel and Humira, but not chemically identical as with generic drugs. If the unique molecules used to create a biologic (from living proteins) such as Enbrel are not cloned, but carefully imitated, they are considered [...]
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