Comments on: What is Remission of Rheumatoid Arthritis? Part 2

By: Clasina

Clasina — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:36:52 +0000

Should we count feet in? LOL! My RA started in the mid-foot, and I had erosions and deformity by the time the doc figured out why my feet had been so sore for 18 months. Oh, but my fingers and toes are just fine!
I can surely attest to feet bearing highly important functional roles!

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:07:15 +0000

It's all kind of strange from the patient viewpoint. I know they sometimes laugh about it, assuming all doctors treat all joints anyway, but it's hard to reconcile that so many important joints are left out specifically or under-valued in the diagnosis criteria as well. Read more on the ACR site here.

By: callensberg

callensberg — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:54:56 +0000

Interesting, but why would any RA specialist not include ankles and feet when discussing RA? That is an insane concept. Also, I have had joint pain with an ESR of only 28, with little swelling. My joints feel like they are slightly sprained. The extremely severe pain happens at a higher level, but try walking around for any length of time feeling like your joints are slightly sprained. That can wear on a person as well.

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Today's Popular News In arthritis Community: MrTweet — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:03:35 +0000

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By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:31:07 +0000

Dr. Kirsch,
That is so funny. The first part, I mean.

If we (the doctors, researchers, the drug companies, everyone!) do not listen to the patients’ description of their condition, how would we ever find the answers and a cure?
Yes, we need to address inflammation, but you are correct. There is more going on even when inflammation appears to subside.

By: Rheumatologe

Rheumatologe — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:19:18 +0000

Sometime my pats. say: I forgot, you aren’t interested in my ankles & I always reply: I’m interested but later, that is after DAS.
I believe that there’s continuous damage, ever after stopping inflammation, if there is already structural damage. That’s running like an accelerated osteoarthritis — but I don’t have the means to verify this hypothesis.

Have a look at http://rheumatologe.blogspot.com as I show, which activity indices I use.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:40:36 +0000

I have to laugh, too or else I’ll cry.
But, I swear it’s all true.

WP has not been a breeze, but I’ll get there.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:23:59 +0000

Welcome to WordPress Kelly! The Cadillac of blog sites.

I laughed when I read the ankle bit. I’ve had achilles surgery on both ankles and I still have problems with them. In fact, it was once of the first signs pointing the doctor to RA.

Andrew

By: Kelly

Kelly — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:34:00 +0000

Wren,
Great info. Thanks for sharing your experience for the newbies who come along to check this out. It’s so hard to learn so much to be able to manage RA…

By: Kelly

Kelly — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:31:18 +0000

tharr,
It’s actually worse than that.
They do not exclude them from the study.
THEY ARE EXCLUDING THEM FROM YOUR DISEASE ACTIVITY SCORE (DAS) which they use to judge how active is your RA is.
what about that?
btw: this is the tip of the iceberg. At least they are saying that those joints can be counted for your “treatment”!