Sero Negative Arthritis | Arthritis Information

I have been on the boards for about four years. I have been hearing about sero-negative arthritis from the boards. I am just curious - I have been doing my usual research on my RA and I came across this - I am just wondering - do those of you with sero-negative arthritis believe this article and do you believe your arthritis is "less severe".

Seronegative Rheumatoid Arthritis

While it is difficult to cope with pain in your neck, small and large and joints of your legs and arms, you may be glad to know there is a ray of hope if you have a less severe case of rheumatoid arthritis.

While rheumatoid arthritis is the most common type of inflammatory arthritis, you may be surprised to learn there are several different types of rheumatoid arthritis including a milder seronegative rheumatoid arthritis. Only your physician can tell you whether you are one of the 20 percent of rheumatoid arthritis patients who have this less severe version of the condition called seronegative rheumatoid arthritis.

By testing the “rheumatoid factor,” your physician is able to confirm your diagnosis of seronegative rheumatoid arthritis. He or she will measure the presence and the level of an antibody called rheumatoid factor in your blood. The protein or rheumatoid factor is produced as a result of the body attacking its own immune system.

Most people with rheumatoid arthritis test positive for the rheumatoid factor, which means they have seropositive rheumatoid arthritis as opposed to seronegative rheumatoid arthritis.

If you are in the minority of people who have been diagnosed with seronegative rheumatoid arthritis -- and are therefore rheumatoid factor negative -- you will love hearing the good news. As a seronegative rheumatoid arthritis patient, you have a better chance of survival and a better overall prognosis than the 80 percent of rheumatoid arthritis patients who test positive for rheumatoid factor.

roxy2008-03-06 20:16:02

Hmmmm. Right now I'm sitting here with a knee the size of a grapefruit, both elbows getting more painful as the night goes on, plus my thumbs are getting stiff and painful to move. I'm getting a little nervous about what is in store for me tomorrow. But I have no joint damage that I know of and most of the time I feel pretty good. So who's worse off or more severe? I don't know. I can only say how it is for me. I hope that all of us, no matter which group we fall into, are able to find relief. :) Oh yeah, I'm sero negative.

Oops, forgot to say that yes!! That is good news.

Linncn2008-03-06 20:20:09Roxy, what site was this article on? I know some sites are much more reliable than others.I am seronegative, but was diagnosed because of my anti-ccp antibody. I was told at the time my doctor thought I had mild RA. Within 6 months I was on the full regime of meds plaquenil, mtx, humira. I told the doctor that for a mild case I sure didn't feel mild. His response was that anytime you have a positive anti-ccp read you have potential for severe ra. I am definitely not severe, but I do think I fall in the moderate category.
HI ROXY, HOW ARE YOU? HOPE ALL IS WELL, MISS YOU ON THIS BOARD, YOU DON'T COME ON MUCH DO YOU? AS LONG AS YOU ARE HAPPY!!! lOVE JANIE.Whichever one we are in, PAIN IS PAIN! I GUESS IT IS HARDER FOR SERO-NEGS TO GET TREATMENT SOMETIMES AND I HAVE A FRIEND WHO IS SERO-NEG AND SHE HAS STILL NOT BEEN GIVEN ANY dMARDS, ALL THEY GIVE HER IS IBUPROFEN. THEY TELL HER IT IS FIBROMYALGIA. cHEERS JANIE. janiefx2008-03-06 21:48:54Lizzie is seronegative. And lookie where she is. Just came out of the hospital! And what am I. I mean i test positive now. But i did not used to. Because i swelled when i did not test positive. To me that is strange.I'm seronegative and well...you all know where I have been at...they have to be kidding to say it is less severe, in fact, I think some of the seroneg's, like Lizzie, are more severe. Milly, I've read that it isn't uncommon to change from sero neg to sero pos as the disease progresses.Linncn,

Hi, I am new to the boards here as i was diagnosd last month. I agree about it changing. I am a nursing student in a BSN program (almost done) and I have done a lot of research on RA because I have it now. (also seroneg). I have read that RA factor only is present in 20-30% of people at the time of diagnosis. However, 80% of people with RA will eventually show a positive RA factor. This means that if you were diagnosed seronegative you may have been seronegative in the beginning but if blood work was ordered again you may be actually seropositive. I don't think there is any difference as far as pain or inflammation between the two, but people who never display the RA factor tend to have less long term damage to their joints. Just my two cents. :) nice to meet you

I am sero negative and by that article I should be one of the lucky ones. It was sero negative RA that had me in a wheelchair for 6 months, its sero negative RA that has me unable to work and on disability. My rheumy said that sero negative RA is just a term used but there are no whys and wherefores to the seriousness of the disease in both cases. My aunt is sero negative and has damage to all her joints severely.Hi Eliseo...glad you found the board.

I was originally diagnosed with Palindromic Rheumatism 7 years ago and last December re-diagnosed with Sero-negative RA after my symptoms become more persistant. I asked my Rheumatologist if this a milder form and would it cause joint damage because I have read that it doesn't or only slight damage may occur. He said there is no difference than the Sero-postitive type, affecting the joints, but would probably not have any other complications eg. eyes etc...

So far, the only changes I have are visual changes in my fingers but bone x-ray is normal.

I guess I just don't understand the point of rating someone more or less severe? Is it a competition? Yeah, I don't know about this. I test positive for RA factor, ANA, ANCA but have a normal sed rate and anti CCP. I've been labled sero positive and undifferentiated in my disease, but I know there are many here who are sero negative who have much more difficulty than I do. I dare anyone to tell a person who's in terrible pain that their disease is mild because their blood work says so. And Hillhoney makes a good point. Maybe they need to look at more than the Rheumatoid factor. Like sed rate and all the others. Like I said I have it pretty mild and all of my blood work is normal or below not just the RF. I'm seropositive and all my bloods were normal apart from the RF and ANA. Now, 6 months on my sed rate is starting to creep up.... but its only just out of normal range. What are the deciding factors which make it mild/severe? If you have lots of pain is it severe or do you just have lots of pain? I have pain and swelling but consider myself to be mild because the symptoms aren't necessarily with me every minute of the day... they become worse at night when relaxing and not moving and when I go to bed. Who decides?Sarah, when I'm flaring it always gets worse at night. Anyone know why?I don't know why it gets worse at night, but I am the same way. I have problems and pain throughout the day, but it seems once I slow down and start to relax, the pain and swelling really hits...I just put it to being relaxed and not focused on anything else, and maybe noticing it more...When it gets really bad, I will keep busy until bed time and then just go straight to bed...not that that always works either. :(you "flare" at night because you aren't moving alowing your synovial fluid to "gel". Laying in bed you are more limited in the ways you can relieve pain. ALso things are quiet and with nothing to provide a distraction you are simply more aware of the pain and stiffness.Buckeye - It kinda makes sense to me, what you said, but I do get worse at night, and I am not any less active then I am thru the day. Actually I am more active in the late afternoon when hubby gets home from work and until I get ready for bed. BUT my gelling starts to get worse around 6pm and progressively gets worse as the evening goes on.

It also could be that the pred is wearing off and is causing me to gel and have more symptoms starting around 6pm.

I just thought I would put in my input.

Joonie...you also have a lot of oint damage so your "stiffness" pattern also resembles that of OA which gets progressively more painful and stiff as the joint tires..and yes your meds wearing down may have something to do with it. do you take the pred only once a day [QUOTE=Hillhoney]I guess I just don't understand the point of rating someone more or less severe? Is it a competition? [/QUOTE]

For some losers,yes. LOL

But a lot of people look at it and try to see a pattern. See if there's something the big guys are missing. We all wanna be a hero in some way. Yep, I take 10mg of pred between 1am & 3am. It helps with my morning stiffness. If I did not take it at that time of morning, I would not be able to move until after noon time, when the pred would kick in.

Oh & great to know I have old foogey arthritis now, use to think that is what I already had

Oh and one time I asked my old GP how long the pred was to work on my symptoms, and he told me 24 hours. I told him I was lucky if it lasted 18 hours. He said well that is not good. well... DUH!
Joonie

I wonder if you would do better if the 10mgs was split to 5 mgs twice a day. If it was in yourbloodstream more consistantly it wouldn't take as long to kick in in the morning and you wouldn't be quite as stiff as night.

Might be something to call your dr about
I done that before, Buckeye. It did not really do much good. 5mg of pred is not enough at any time to help with much with my symptoms. Only 10mg of pred at one time is. But I am willing to give it another try. I will add that to my new list. But I so want to be off the pred, but I still need it to function.

Thanks for the suggestion.
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