Genetics and RA Archives | Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior

RA Runs in Families

February 28, 2019October 5, 2019 Kelly O'Neill 21 Comments Blood test for RA/ Rheumatoid Disease, Genetics and RA

RA runs in families: Part 1 I’ve always heard RA runs in families I have always said that the people you meet when living with this disease—or because you do—are the greatest side effect. That’s one of the things I would not change even though I hate rheumatoid disease. Some of my best friends connected with me first through RAW...Continue reading 21 Comments » Read more

Genetics & Rheumatoid Disease: More Complicated Than Cancer?

January 27, 2014October 5, 2019 Kelly O'Neill 10 Comments Genetics and RA, Patient reported outcome measure

No one wants complicated answers, of course. But some answers are complicated, with multiple layers or causes. Like Rheumatoid Disease and childhood hearing loss. Instead of differing experiences of patients being suspect, they should be valuable clues to answers we all seek. Answers and more questions The past few months have been a slow process of diagnosis...Continue reading 10 Comments » Read more

Hints of an Immunity Fingerprint: Bee Stings, Peanuts, and Colds

December 6, 2013October 5, 2019 Kelly O'Neill 17 Comments Communicating about RA, Genetics and RA

What if each immune system is unique, so none respond exactly the same? Almost two years ago I told you about a phrase I’d coined, the immune fingerprint, to describe the unique way each person’s immune system responds to a similar or identical stimulus. I hope you’ll read that original post explaining it’s only logical that...Continue reading 17 Comments » Read more

Prednisone Versus Prednisolone: the Same for Everyone?

January 24, 2013May 14, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 96 Comments Genetics and RA, Prednisone and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Whether medicine is personalized or not, patients are It’s fascinating how drugs are metabolized differently in different people, with different side effects and varying levels of benefit. But, prednisone is one thing we hear works the same on everyone. Is that right? Prednisone works well enough on most Rheumatoid patients that it’s used by some doctors as...Continue reading 96 Comments » Read more

what causes rheumatoid arthritis trigger

What Causes Rheumatoid Arthritis to Trigger?

December 2, 2011May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 94 Comments Causes of RA, Genetics and RA, Research on Rheumatoid Arthritis, Smoking & Rheumatoid Arthritis

What causes Rheumatoid Arthritis? (UPDATED) I never asked “why me?” when diagnosed with RA because it’s not my way of thinking. Yet people do ask me “HOW did this happen?” or “What triggers RA?” What causes rheumatoid arthritis - that's the multi-billion dollar question! Here’s a summary of what is known at this point. There are a...Continue reading 94 Comments » Read more

Predicting Response to Rheumatoid Arthritis Therapy

August 22, 2011May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 12 Comments Biologics for RA, Genetics and RA, Research on Rheumatoid Arthritis, Talking to doctors

The problem of varying responses to RA therapy If you’re following comments on the blog, Twitter, or Facebook, you might have noticed some patients recently have been told by their doctors that that likely don’t have RA because they have not responded well to TNF-a therapies. Sometimes, this comes after a few years of RA treatment. “My...Continue reading 12 Comments » Read more

Fundamental Studies of Rheumatoid Arthritis Genetics & Genomics

July 25, 2011May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 5 Comments Genetics and RA, Guest post on RA Warrior

RA Genetics 101: Glass half-full or half-empty? Part 3 This is Part 3 of a guest series on RA genetics by Robert West, Jr, PhD. Part 1 provided the introduction to RA genetics and Part 2 described the direct to consumer (DTC) genetics of RA. Here, I describe a dissection of the complexity of the heritable component of...Continue reading 5 Comments » Read more