...when people say that inflammatory athritis can 'burn out' by itself after a while?
I was in hospital a few weeks ago, and a very nice doctor (who must have been incredibly busy but took the time to talk to me for a while) was chatting about the RA and alternative therapies and other such.
Anyhow, he mentioned that in a certain numebr of cases the RA 'burns out' by itself. Does anyone know exactly what that means? Like, does your immune system stop attacking your joints randomly? Or because its already done a lot of damage and it thinks its destroyed them enoguh?
Sorry, i hope I'm making some sense. I should have asked the doc to clarify but he was running off in a rish when he mentioned it.
Pediatricians have said that about my daughter - "Sometimes, it just goes away.' I don't like to hear it and don't think they should say it - what if I decided to latch on to a statement like that? But more than one has said it.
Even the ped rheum has said something similar. Last visit, he made the comment "unless something just changes about her immune system", like then she would be well. And he also told me about a patient he had once who got the flu and after that, her jra was gone. He said the same thing, "something just changed about her immune system".
I guess when they don't know exactly what causes it, they don't exactly know what makes it go away, either.They used to tell my mom the same thing. I guess back in the day, it was a common belief that kids outgrew JRA. Now they're finding that just isn't the case. I'm curious as to what specialty that "very nice doctor" had his degree in. It seems so often that doctors who are not trained in certian fields, like to pretend like they are! :)
[QUOTE=arriscolwell]I'm curious as to what specialty that "very nice doctor" had his degree in. It seems so often that doctors who are not trained in certian fields, like to pretend like they are! :)[/QUOTE]
Haha, I know what you mean, he definately wasn't a rheumatologist. I'm not sure what his speciality was, general medicine maybe? I've been in hospital as an inpatient a few times, and I've seen him each time in accident and emergency, and he also does the rounds in the admissions wards (before they decide which specialist ward you belong in)
I've never had a doctor say that. I wish there was some premise of truth in it but I don't think there is. Sure there are exceptions in every disease but commonly I don't think RA just burns itself out. I also don't think that's a common thing for a physician to tell a patient.
Was this your treating physician?
Orion - I wonder if he was an ER doc. From what I've gathered, they can be really knowledgeable about random diseases - matter of fact, it was an ER doc that finally diagnosed me when I was about 18months. So perhaps he got that info from a new medical journal he's reading, or a class he recently took. Who knows!
My rheumatologist said it can go away spontaneously but it's almost alwaysWas this your treating physician?
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