Comments on: Is there a cure for Rheumatoid Arthritis?

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:09:29 +0000

Hi Doreen, If methotrexate is not enough, most doctors will add another treatment. Most people with RA are using combination treatments. Please tell the rheum doc what you can’t do & what your pain levels are. Together with the test results that will indicated whether you need to add another treatment. Have you asked your doc about this?
Here is a link to a page that might help you. Click here.

By: Doreen

Doreen — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 09:45:14 +0000

I’m suffering with RA and i use methotaxeta, pls if thereis any medicine i can change, i’m suffering, joint pain, and always ESR is high.

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:13:49 +0000

Good advice, Becky. Thanks.

By: Becky

Becky — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:17:53 +0000

Francesca, I was diagnosed when I was 28yrs, that was 1993. Methotrexate was just coming into the picture so my rheumy wasn’t very keen on prescribing it. Fatigue was an issue then just as it is now with meth & Orencia and the other meds. You are totally right in that it affects different people in different ways. I’m sero-negative for the RA factor in my blood, I’m the only one in my family, past & present that I have been able to find with this. Getting support then was as hard as it is now….even with surgeries. The big plus that I have found is that it can make you a stronger person as you figure out what works for you(sometimes to a fault if you ask some of my friends lol!!). I know you will find your “groove” or rhythm if you will(good,bad or other), it will just take time.

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:32:07 +0000

Teresa, go ahead and email me with the details. kelly @ rawarrior .com without those spaces. Thanks.

By: Theresa

Theresa — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:25:14 +0000

Hi Kelly,

I hope you and your family had a great Christmas. I was hoping for your permission to use this article on a future blog posting on my daughters site as I feel the information would be very interesting to many of the readers. I would hope then I can lead more people to your site so they too can become more informed. My husband and I had a great discussion around how people are well meaning yet ignorant when it comes to the “cure” topic. I feel this article could be very helpfult to the readers of my daughters blog.
You can answer here or email me directly.

Thank you for your time and for all the thought, research adn time that goes behind your postings… I draw much encouragement from your site.

With love, T.

By: Chelsea

Chelsea — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:35:41 +0000

That’s o.k. Kelly! When I first posted it, I didn’t see the screen where it said it was awaiting moderation, so I wasn’t sure if it took, until I saw it again this morning when I went to re-post it. Thanks for taking the second one out. Looking forward to your next post!

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:08:20 +0000

Thanks Rosie.
My grandfather had RA, too. I wish he had had the medicines that we have. It will be even better by the time our grandchildren come along…

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:04:53 +0000

Hi Chelsea, I’m sorry I’m a little behind in posting comments & replying since I took a couple days offline for Christmas. I look forward to checking out these articles. The topic is very timely with what I plan to post this week. Thanks.

By: Chelsea

Chelsea — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 05:24:23 +0000

Hi all. I came across the following two papers. They will make your eyes glaze over, but it you can skim through the harder stuff to read the conclusory sentences, you will still glean a good understanding of the fact that RA is a different disease process (subtypes of RA, or “phenotypes” and thus why it’s so hard to find a cure for it. If there’s someone out there who can summerize these in layman’s terms that would be great!

Discovery of distinctive gene expression profiles in rheumatoid synovium using cDNA microarray technology: evidence for the existence of multiple pathways of tissue destruction and repair (2003)

Transcript profiling towards personalised
medicine in rheumatoid arthritis

An interesting take on the pathogenesis of RA in the following abstract.
I wonder if, in the full paper, whether they address the sex difference in RA (mostly female), the role of hormones and perhaps pregnancy and reaction to fetus in females with RA:
Is rheumatoid arthritis premature osteoarthritis with fetal-like healing?