RA & organ involvement? | Arthritis Information

 

So, just out of curiosity, how many of you here have multiple organ involvement with your RA, if any?

How many with rheumatoid lung?

How many with pericarditis?

How many with auto-immune hearing loss or auto-immune thyroid issues?
RA effects my lungs, heart and kidneys.  They get larger when swollen, only durring very bad attacks.


Do you have permanent scarring in/on your organs from all of this?I have hypothyroidism , I dont know much about PA and organ involvement though.Have developed ILD, pulm. nodules, pericarditis with cardiac nodule, hypothyroidism.

I also have Crohn's which came before the RA and involves the digestive system, and heart problems which came after the RA. The heart problem is a flutter with very high bpm.

I have ringing in my left ear and have an underactive thyroid. I also have a family of nodules under each shoulder blade.


For some of you who have responded, have these issues been confirmed by your doctors to be directly related to your RA?Mine not, but I see my rheumy next month so will ask. I also see the ENT chap on the 28th so I will ask then too.I have a suspected autoimmune inner ear disease which is pretty much confirmed by the RD, ENT doctor and neurologist.   The other issue is neuropathy which affects the entire left side of my body but I don't know if it's affecting any organs.  Just the nerves and muscles.  Jesse882008-02-16 16:07:13My rhummy said these are results of my RA.  But so far, i have no scars from the swellings.

The ILD and fibrosis and cardiac issues are directly related to RA.  Thyroid was diagnosed in 1976, 20 years prior to RA diagnosis.

I had pericarditis twice a few months apart. That was about 13 years ago. A few years ago, I had pleurisy. I wasn't dx with ra until Sept 05. My dr did say how unusual it was to have pericarditis twice. Looking back now, I had lots of aches and pains but always thought it was because of over working. I had a cleaning business and somedays cleaned 3 houses and my own too....so......??? Who knows?


It's hard sometimes because most people forget that this disease is a systemic disease and can attack anything any where in your body.   

For some, organ involvement can be a big thing, while for others, the joints are the main area of involvement.

Often times people seem surprised when they are told they have eye involvement, saliva gland involvement, hearing involvement, lung, heart, kidney involvement, and the list goes on and on!
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