What is Remission of Rheumatoid Arthritis? Part 1
Can the Rheumatoid Arthritis disease go into remission?
I always thought that remission was like the Holy Grail – hard to come by. However, I never realized that it was also hard to identify.
When somebody has cancer, he fights for remission. His whole family prays for remission. The remission itself may be elusive, but he knows what it is! It is no more cancer. At least for the time being…
It is not so with Rheumatoid Arthritis. They haven’t really decided what it is. Look at what one rheumatologist said: “To a considerable extent, defining remission in RA is like defining pornography; we have great difficulty agreeing on a definition.”
How many RA’ers go into remission?
That depends upon who you ask.
According to NIH, rates of remission of Rheumatoid Arthritis vary from under 5% to over 16% because of differing definitions. Those ranges are substantiated by much of what I have read. One study reported on Medscape says the remission rate can be up to 20% using certain criteria. Compare that to what one doctor said in Arthritis Today: “If you get treated within two years of the onset of RA symptoms, you have more than a 50 percent chance of achieving remission.”
Is he saying that over half of those who are treated early (during the first 2 years of RA) will get remission?
Alas, I am not a doctor. But, I have read dozens of abstracts and detailed reports on remission. I have never read anything like that, however he qualifies it.
It also depends upon how you ask.
There are various sets of criteria which fulfill various definitions of remission. NIH concluded: “The use of different definitions of RA remission leads to different results with regard to remission rates…”
Two broad definitions with one basic distinction
1) There is a generic understanding of “remission” with a connotation that we all know. One online dictionary defines remission as the “absence of symptoms of the disease and return to good health.” In part, Wikipedia says, “a cure(that) is the end of a medical condition.”
2) There is a big difference between that and what rheumatologists often call “clinical remission.” They are referring to a specific set of criteria which usually does not include the “absence of symptoms” or a “return to good health” or a “cure.”
Hopefully, I did not confuse you. I will leave you today with a link to a wide-ranging set of definitions of remission of Rheumatoid Arthritis. It gives 6 different descriptions of clinical remission with varying criteria. It is at Science Direct.
Next time, we’ll look closer at how the rheumatologists define remission. And we’ll ask why it matters to us.
Recommended reading:
Sympathy and Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms
10 Dumb Questions About an MRI for Rheumatoid Arthritis
3 Reasons to Stop Saying “Complications of Rheumatoid Arthritis”
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Thank you! And new website looks great!
Thanks for stopping by. You are so sweet. Sweating it out over here trying to get lots more things fixed on here. And don’t you think it needs some paint and wallpaper?
love the picture…thats how i feel sometimes.
Remission is very confusing to me. See, with cancer people stop taking the medications that put them in remission. We still have to take ours or we relapse. At least, that’s my understanding anyway.
I had juvenile RA from age 3 & went into “remission” when I was 21. I developed osteo-arthritis and fibromyalgia, and the RA came out of remission just this year at 55. Wow is it worse now than it was as a kid!
I really like your redesigned site — it’s restful on the eyes and looks more “professional,” whatever that is. Good job!
I was diagnosed with RA in 1988. The disease went into remission (for me, that meant very rare serious flares and no daily foot pain or joint stiffness) ten years later. It became active again last year, and I’m now taking Arava and sulfasalazine, hoping to keep it in check. I’m thankful I had that time in remission; I was able to backpack high in the mountains several times and enjoy life without pain. I wish it would go into remission again, but I sort of doubt it will.
Thanks for the research and the post about RA remission. This disease is so strange I’m not surprised at all that doctors and specialists, and each of us who have the disease, have different perceptions of what remission in RA actually means.
There is just not emphasis or research on this topic. You compared it to the Holy Grail. I compare it to something that is only avaiable to an advantaged few. I am on combination treatment, and the whole idea of combination treatment is a greater chance of remission. When I was first diagnosed, I beleived to be possible, now I just want to make it through the day. I think a big issue is the lack of attention towards RA. We talk about awareness all we want, but there really is not enough resources being put in the research of many chronic pain conditions. That really has to change.
Although I wouldn’t call it remission, I’ve certainly fared better in the last three years than the whole 13 yrs I’ve had RA. The first two years I had it, I would lie awake sobbing in pain. The worst damage was done those first couple of years necessitating foot surgery and shoulder replacement. My docs also put me on big time meds like combos of MTX and Enbrel, Rituxan and finally Orencia two years ago. I eventually had an allergic reaction to Orencia and had to stop.
Can you believe I’m only on 3 mgs of Prednisone and weekly MTX injection today? 13 yrs after being dx? I’m a fairly active 41 yr old mom to a 7 and 2 yr old and run my own business. Am I in remission? Maybe. But I still have morning stiffness and dull pain in my joints, but it’s NOTHING like it used to be.
I’m very thankful, but I know it could rear its ugly head any day. So I count my blessings and keep chasing my kids around…well, at least fast-walk after them.
The sad thing is that lots of rheumatologists won’t even take the time to use a tool like DAS but simply decide (on which basis?)
I think I know on what basis they decide.
My blood boils too, because it’s very conceited. And it’s linked to worse results.
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I know this is off topic but I would love a piece of that watermelon. Summer is when I feel better and the watermelon is an awesome reminder that summer will be here before I know it. I am just too sore now to hold my breath but I know it is coming. – Denise