Treating RA Archives | Page 2 of 14 | Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior

Prednisone Effects: Your Results May Vary

February 24, 2016October 5, 2019 Kelly O'Neill Young 21 Comments Prednisone and Rheumatoid Arthritis, Tips for living with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Prednisone effects can seem miraculous. But does it work for everyone? At what dose? And at what cost? Here are some basic facts on prednisone and links for more information on specific questions you may have. Desired prednisone effects Prednisone and similar corticosteroids like prednisolone are extremely effective at reducing inflammation in most people. Steroids are considered...Continue reading 21 Comments » Read more

Is Prednisone Over-Prescribed?

January 12, 2016October 5, 2019 Kelly O'Neill Young 26 Comments Prednisone and Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatoid arthritis treatment

Reading the headlines you may wonder: is prednisone over-prescribed? Sensational headlines are not new. But I did a double take when I read Steroid Over-Prescribing Persists in RA. My natural reaction is to defend patients: “Steroid overuse? Who would take steroids unnecessarily? This is just another side effect of pharma ads leading the public to believe RA...Continue reading 26 Comments » Read more

Steroid Injections for Rheumatoid Arthritis: 5 Questions

December 23, 2015October 5, 2019 Kelly O'Neill Young 14 Comments Prednisone and Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatoid arthritis treatment

1. Why steroid injections for rheumatoid arthritis / disease? When joints are persistently inflamed, despite whatever therapies or systemic treatments are used, steroid injections for rheumatoid arthritis have been helpful for many people with rheumatoid disease / arthritis (PRD). For example, my wrist and back of hand joints have been swollen since I had to drive several...Continue reading 14 Comments » Read more

Doctor: Posterior Tibial Tendonitis Is “Extremely Common with Rheumatoid”

October 22, 2014October 5, 2019 Kelly O'Neill Young 36 Comments Professional patient, Rheumatoid Arthritis symptoms

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program for a brief discussion of posterior tibial tendonitis in “Rheumatoid Arthritis” (RA) / Rheumatoid Disease (RD). There is a long list of topics I want to cover, but sometimes the RD itself pushes other things farther down the page. This week, I continued to have problems putting weight on...Continue reading 36 Comments » Read more

Medication Fears and Rheumatoid Arthritis

October 20, 2014October 5, 2019 Kelly O'Neill Young 37 Comments Emotions and Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatoid arthritis treatment

Fear of medicine Have you ever been afraid of taking medicine? I have. Who knew that there’s actually a name for a fear of medication: pharmacophobia. Appearing irrational to Dr. Laptop As if I were once again the 19 year-old girl who quit taking thyroid medication, the day I learned I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), I...Continue reading 37 Comments » Read more

An Unremarkable Reality: Scans Don’t Lie – or Do They?

February 4, 2014October 5, 2019 Kelly O'Neill Young 57 Comments Invisible Illness, Talking to doctors

Show me your erosions or else Some of you may remember last year when we met Dr. Shrug who gave my foot an ultimatum: Show me a bone erosion, or no more DMARDs. We only ever saw the doc once (more than enough). It was Dr. Tylenol’s partner, who they scheduled us with since Dr. T...Continue reading 57 Comments » Read more

Triple Therapy / Combination Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis

October 29, 2013May 17, 2018 Kelly O'Neill Young 5 Comments Biologics for RA, Rheumatoid arthritis treatment

Treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis In the past few decades, Rheumatoid Arthritis has been treated with therapies designed for other diseases. It was not always clear how these drugs treated Rheumatoid Arthritis / Rheumatoid Disease, but they were found to reduce immune activity in various ways. Because researchers recognized certain drugs could slow or modify progression of...Continue reading 5 Comments » Read more