Comments on: Mortality and Rheumatoid Arthritis

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:27:01 +0000

Thanks. Your doc is right! I like her. Untreated RA definitely steals years; some studies are showing treatment may help us w/that battle.

By: William

William — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:06:35 +0000

I told my dr. Concerning the Rituxian treatments- I wonder how many yrs I’m taking off my life by getting them and she responded have you ever thought how many yrs you might be adding to your life? It stumped me as it’s hard not to think negative when your almost overwhelmed with depression 24/7!!! Just thought I’d share that!!!

By: rhian evans

rhian evans — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:40:52 +0000

hi there,i found this article very intresting indeed! i have had R A now for 4 yrs,on methotrexate as i could not walk, i slowly got worse again eg,tumour on ankle,inflamed veins,chest pains,wrist supports, knee pain,malaise really bad, fatigue,morning stiffness,depression, weight gain 3 st,feeling im going out of my mind!!!!!!!!!!!and then to know that mortality rate is high! i stopped taking metho,as ive had pneumonia twice and TB,i find a few brandies every night ,relaxes me,helps with the pain in fact it goes! makes me more relaxed,makes and me cope better with life,i laugh a lot with my friends every night having a few drinks and i can be in the sun!that,s my recommendation for a good life when you have R A if i get liver problems re drink /if i get liver problems re methotrexate intake ,i know which one i shall follow !!!!!!!!!Cheers.i would love to be studied on!

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:57:54 +0000

You are so right – but I hope that at least you are getting good care now that it sounds like there is plenty of proof to show the dr. I think this problem is ignored frequently by docs as you describe & it costs lives.

By: Romona Smith

Romona Smith — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:40:19 +0000

I have been ignored many times by doctors who look at me and decide I’m not a candidate for heart disease,5’2, 120 lbs. I have morbidly high blood pressure at times, rapid pulse, and I am on two heart medications daily. I have off the chart high cholesterol, which has now been deemed genetic.I have severe carotid artery thickening. I was diagnosed with FM in 1997, and finally an RA diagnosis in 2009. But the pain, rashes, swellings have been going on my whole life. I went through the standard stress test and echo cardiogram, but even though I am told there is nothing wrong, I still have chest pains. I believe that I will die before a doctor realizes I have something wrong with my heart. This problem will persist until doctors agree that they do NOT know everything going on with auto immune disease.

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:06:07 +0000

Good luck with the clinical trial Margie. I’d love to hear how that goes.

By: Margie Konshuk

Margie Konshuk — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:37:39 +0000

I can remember since I was 14 having heart palpatations getting dizzy, fainting, seeing stars and having doctors laugh at me and ask me which stars are you seeing. Laughing all the time. I grew up with weak ankles and tired all of the time. Doctors told my mom that I was anemic. I would get cold sores when or just before I would get sick. I had all the childhood problems. I got married had four daughters and all through this I caught plursery, pnemiona, and cronic colds and heart palpatations and when I was 26 they started to listen to me and I was diagonised with several things and given meds that didn’t help and would take myself off and hear from the doctors what an ingreatful pateint I was. Mean things said on my chart. I finally went to a naturalpath and he found in that one visit that I had RA. He told me to go back to my cardioligist tell him to send me to a RA specilists. I did this and then was told it would be not until July 26th and this was April 4th. I let it ride but contacted the naturalpath and then before I hung up the RA office called me and within the next week I was in. I am now doing clinical research. During this time of waiting I did Bromelin, Turmeic, Catsclaw, fish oil (liquid) and ibprofen (lots) then took myself down to 1200 mg aday.

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:53:44 +0000

You have hit on an important point, Joy. I have been working on a blog related to this. True, I’m mostly over-whelmed too but the heart disease & osteoporosis that we are almost guaranteed to have need to be treated. According to what I’ve read, the cardiac disease of RA is not the same as other cvd, but we should still try. :rainbow:

By: Joy Terrell

Joy Terrell — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:16:22 +0000

Over the course of having RA for 25 years, I have seen several rheumatologists. Not one of them has ever asked me about my family history of cardiovascular disease. Not one of them has suggested or done any evaluations for cardiovascular disease. I have been seen at major teaching medical centers so, I don’t think that it is just the quality of physicians I have seen. I think they are just not trained to focus on this aspect of our care, even though it is well documented to be the leading cause of death for RA patients. If no one is monitoring for this disease process occurring concurrent with RA, it follows that we are not receiving treatment for this complication until it is too late. We as patients and our physicians can get so focused on what is happening with our joints and our pain that we forget to broaden our lens and see there are more things going on.
For me, it is so overwhelming just to deal with what I have to, that adding another problem to the list is too much. But in this case, I’m not sure ignorance really is bliss.

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:05:13 +0000

Hi Marion,
Way to go – a good attitude can only help. Your daughter is correct – severe side effects are rare and mtx does much good for most who use it. Unfortunately, there is much bad press on the matter. I hope it does help you to fight RA inflammation and live to 100. O:-)