Rheumatoid arthritis remission | Arthritis Information

I'm new to this forum, so forgive me if I don't do this quite right. I have a question about rheumatoid arthritis remission. I was diagnosed with RA about 3 1/2 years ago. All my labs were negative. My main complaint was swelling, stiffness, and a little bit of pain in my hands. A MRI showed small erosions in the joints of one hand. I started on MTX and then on to Humira which didn't help and then to Remicade which helped alot. I got to the point where I really didn't have any symptoms and my rheumatogist discontinued the Remicade. I have, on my own, slowly weaned myself off the MTX. I just had to see what would happen if I stopped it. I've been off it completely about 2 months and I'm fine so far. Is this a really stupid thing to do? Has anyone else ever tried to get off all meds?

I can't say I have, but would certainly love. The longest I've gone is 3 weeks -- and I paid for it! Took me a few months to get good again. Have you spoken to your doc about it to get her/his take on it? From the description you give, with negative lab results and feeling good for two months, you just might be on the road to full remission. I'd be curious to know what the doc has to say.

Best wishes.
Getting off our meds is a continuing theme around here. Everyone wants off! You may be one of the lucky ones who is in remission. I can't advise you, but please, if it turns out you really are in remission, please let us know. We love success stories. Good luck!!I don't know. I read over, and over again that you should not go off your meds on your own. If you have a rheumy that you work well with, it's best that he/she is in on the process. If the doc is hard to deal with then that's a different issue.

Talk to your RD about this. I'm in clinical remission after a 10 year battle with severe RA. Clinical remission is achieved when there is no pain, swelling, inflammtion. This is determined by physical examination, labs, and MRI. Even if MRI shows some inflammation and all else is negative, then it's not considered full clinical remission. If RA was the only arthritis that I have I would at this point consider lowering MXT for a few months, then possibly going to Humira injections every two weeks. Unfortunately, I also have PA, which is now flaring.

If you were diagnosed with RA with negative labs, most likely you have sero-neg. RA . Apparently from what I've read there are a higher % of people who achieve clinical remission with this diagnosis. They'll be some sero-neg. people come on and give you more advice than I can about that aspect of the disease.

Talk with your RD about your meds. Take care and keep posting. Lindy

Mollie -

Yes it's a stupid thing to do if you rebound...NO it's wonderful if you don't. Most people have to try this at least once - so I'm hoping you're one of the lucky ones.

That being said - probiotics are a real key to this disease IMHO. Please do a search here for 'probiotics'. There are a lot of threads dedicated just to that as well as references in general in the posts. I can't seem to figure out how to search just for 'title' anymore so you might have to spend a little time at this. Either way, there is research as well as peoples comments. Please get yourself on some good probiotics. Since you're at 2 months with no flare - let's see if we can keep you there.

Hugs,

Pip