did your RA stop swelling | Arthritis Information

 

I know you are wondering why... it's a long story. But my external swelling is down and still have same RA symptoms. Tried to switch dr.s and new dr. gave a lecture on ACR guidelines. Still got my script, but also a lot of grief.  I have been around a while and I know this has happened to lots of other patients. So, I am just looking for others. And a list of physicians who treat. THANKS Well yes this happens if you do not swell alot. No doubt you will swell again. I have some swelling everyday. That is my left foot and ankle. It is not maybe the worlds most swelling as far as RA is concerned however my left foot is taller than the right foot. I have RA in my right foot also I do not really ever want the right foot to look as bad as the left. I fear it will someday. I have narrowing of the joint space and still have had a hard time getting respect from RD's. I guess I am not typical RA standards. Well I get it everywhere but I was getting shots in my shoulder so even when i was not taking pred I sort of was. So my hands I think the right hand swells more than my left as a rule but I was getting shots in my right shoulder and had to wait for that to ware off for my hands to swell good enough for the doctor at Mayo Clinic. You may get a good doctor and still get yelled at or lectured. But I got an appology after all was said and done. You do not need much swelling just in the right places. I find that to be stupid but I guess it is what it is. I am RF positive, anti-ccp is 100. I have Sjorgrens and that could explain some swelling I have in some unusal places. ACR critera says that if you have Sjorgrens and a positve ant-ccp that you should be monitored closely and get exrays of your hands and feet. You can see the bone changes on my feet without an exray. As luck would have it they did admit to me that it takes years for bone changes to show up on exray. They did certainly have to admit that my foot was swollen every day over a period of four months and that it certainly does look like narrowing of the joint space. Certainly you need your hands to swell a bit. Not much but this is what they are looking for. My hands of course have swelled before but always when the doctors were unavailable. That is because I am a whimp but not really. When my hands swell I have so many other issues that if an RD is on vacation or has no immediate appointments I will get prednisone from my GP because I am usually swelling everywhere by the time my hands do. So I went six months without prednisone and I got my dx. I tryed to be very polite about it. I did not complain about anything that was not swelling. I showed many swollen parts and he said I see that each time. The very minute my hands began to swell he put me on prednisone a few bony knuckles. Oh and he was right. By the very next evening my hands were already swelling quite well but had already started the prednisone. Actually I had called and asked for prednsone two weeks earlier but he was on vacation and could not get me in earlier my fingers were the least of my concern. Actually it was my fingers that I got my GP to run the bloodwork for me in the first place. But at that time I was in rural area and it took three months to get into see an RD. Anyway the doc said all of my fingers felt boney. One you could clearly see a knot the size of a tic tac on. Now that finger is always bigger than the one on the other hand. So it is not the size of the finger that matters but the way the joint feels when you are flaring I guess because truly that finger is always swollen in my opinion but not for some reason in the doctors opinion? Strangly I had told him the appiontment before that my pinky was hurting and that it had been known to get a nodual on it. Turned out that it was another finger that did something odd this time. So I wish you luck!! With any doctor you may have to be patient for a month or two. I do not agree with this but there are so many diseases that are trying to distinguish between. ARGHH!! Oh and the fact that my thumb catches all of the time he found some interest in that. Sometimes my thumb does much more than that. I thought I broke it once and then figured out it was just apart of the flare. LOL Actually I am getting better at swelling than I used to be. So I was not too worried about my RA showing it's evil side. I had taken a medicine that worked well for me and became allergic to it. Strange but even when I quit taking it I was still better for a few months. I guess maybe the shots in my shoulder had something to do with it? Be patient but of course not too patient. Do of course find a good doctor. you may not have visible swelling but inflammation is the hallmark of RA so if you are without treatment and without infammtion then either you have gone into remission or you might have been misdiagnosed. I just wanted to add that the reason for ACR criteria with Sjorgrens with an anti-ccp positive score is that you be watched closely and get exrays of the hands and feet is because it is a bit unusual to have an anti-ccp positve and not have RA. Actually the doc at Mayo said you can have RA and not visable swelling. Oh I do swell and I even have had high sed rates and high CRP before. I do not think my RA could have been in remission and my foot be so swollen. LOL I think they need to change there criteria. I am sure I have never heard of Sjorgrens causing bone changes. Anyway I would like to think that my RA could go into remission. Sjorgrens does not ever go into remission so I wonder if that could keep ones RA from going into remission? My particular ACR criteria that I go by is that if my fingers wake me up hurting when I had taken Vicoden for something else then I no doubt have imflamation go on. Usually this holds true. If they gave her a script they no doubt feel she needs it. They are just covering them selves saying that she does not meet the guidlines. Some people do fall under the guide lines. RA is a sneaky disease. Yes you get prompt treatment if you fall under the guidlines. If you are a hair off it is more difficult to get proper treatment. .. page 1

Good Luck, PinkApple!

joonie2009-07-05 03:05:29

Thanks.

By RA has been a lot different than others but as I'm in the Uk I doubt whether my doctor could help you. Why would your doctor give you a lot of grief. A lot of us have no visable swelling. have you always had minimal noticeable inflammation or has that part gotten under control with the treatmentMost of the time I have moderate to severe joint swelling and inflammation, but on occasion, it's very minimal, and it's at those RD visits that the doc thinks I don't have pain ...which is totally not the case. The damage that has already been  done hurts, whether or not the inflammation is minimal or moderate.
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