Update, as promised | Arthritis Information

Howdy Folks,
I just had my 2nd appt with my rheumy and am posting an update, as promised.

Good news: no RA damage in any joints! I was sure he'd say that my feet had been damaged, but the mild degenerative changes looks like age-related OA. More good news is that a bump on the outside of my baby toe is not a nodule.

Not so great news: RA definitely not under control so he wants to change my 15 mg/wk MTX pill dosage to 25 mg/wk MTX injections. Thursday I get to learn how to do the injections. Silver lining there is that if my husband gets too cheeky I can wave a hypodermic needle in front of him and he'll faint. :) Still on naprosyn twice daily.

I had a tonne of questions for the dr., but he was running off to a meeting :( Here's what I got out of him:

Does the level of rheumatoid factor in your system indicate the likely severtiy of the disease progression? No, it doesn't matter if your level is 200 or 1000, positive is positive.

Alcohol and MTX? 1 - 2 glasses every 2 weeks is okay. (Bring on the red wine!)

What to expect from disease progression if medication gets the inflammation under control? No increase in symptoms with 20% improvement considered to be good and 30-40% improvement expected if taking MTX.

I plan to ask him more questions during my injection "training session" and will let you know if I learn anything new.

So ... my mood has been good for almost a week now. Almost like I'm on a mini-high following a period of exhaustion and pain. Feels good and I'm going to enjoy it!

All the best to all!

- Joy

Your husband sounds like my husband. He goes pale when I bring out the Humira Pen lol.

It sounds like everything is getting on the right track to get the RA under control and you seem to be very happy!

I am going to be asking my doc for the MTX injections. It just upsets my stomach so much and it works so well for me. So maybe injections are the key. Good luck at your injection training.

I hope everything goes well for you and you get to feeling better!

Good questions Joy and good news.

I liked it when my hubby gave me my injection but I can do it no problem [/QUOTE]