Rheumatoid Arthritis

[Angels1111]

I'm in the early stages of diagnosis for this. It's come on quite suddenly with pain and stiffness in my joints every few days. Although have suspected something is wrong for a while. GP wants to do another blood test in 6 weeks to see if was an infection instead of RA. So I'm unlikely to get any medical support for a while.

Does anyone have a diagnosis and can help talk me through what's next?

What exercises help? What makes it worse? What foods help? What makes it worse? Any other lifestyle changes? I'm not sure why I wake up fine some mornings and not others.

My mum has this and followed a very very limited diet, which has made a significant difference. Look up “cliff’s cure” or paleo autoimmune protocol .

Cold weather can increase symptoms, so gloves etc depending where your pain is.
Strengthening exercises- again, depends where yours is. Googling it to find support.
Don't stop moving- keep exercising, stretches.

Diagnosis can take a while for reasons your GP has given you but I would ask to be referred to an early arthritis clinic if things don’t improve. There are many types of arthritis but there is a test for the rheumatoid factor specifically if you have RA. That would be my next request if you haven’t had it done.

What can help - I have never found any specific diets any help and I tried them all. Healthy diet is your best bet, high fibre, lots of healthy veg and so on. Don’t exercise when you are in a flare but walking and keeping active is good. Anti inflammatories will help keep any inflammation down. Hot showers or baths can help with pain and stiffness. Wrist supports or compression gloves can help with hands, especially in cold weather. Rest, sleep and so on. Early diagnosis is your best bet to start on some disease modifying drugs and they will be prescribed by the hospital so getting into the system is important. Good luck. It’s a worrying time but the drugs these days are excellent.

Oo thank you! Nightshades going out immediately and looking into other tips

Thanks that's really helpful. Today was suddenly icy again so maybe that's what triggered another flare

Thanks, this is really helpful. I am walking and stretching when in a flare, and find I need to rest a lot more than usual, and have more energy in the evening.
I'm so glad the drugs are good now. It's just so random as it's come on so suddenly for me!

Banning entire groups of foods is bollocks in my experience. If you followed all the 'this is guaranteed to work', you'd end up with

No nightshades
No acidic foods (at the same time as having apple cider vinegar because that's magically different despite also being a literal acid)
No fruit
No grains
No dairy
No meat
No fish
No seeds
No pulses
No spices
No food
No alcohol
No yeasts
No carbs
Low protein
No fat

at exactly the same time as other magic cures claiming all you have to do is eat lots of exactly the same things.

What does work

Rheumatology referral
Biologics
DMARDs
Steroids (now they can feel like magic - a long acting steroid pulse can have you feeling better within an hour)
Biomechanics (so orthotics, good shoes - and getting a larger size to allow for swelling/not squashing them up - good bed, good neck support, good posture, good chair and desk/computer set up)
Physiotherapy
Hydrotherapy
Eating a wide range of foods
Avoiding dehydration
Running repairs - compression gloves, bracing and/or taping whatever joint hurts today this minute
Not going crazy on exercise, but gentle stretching when not flaring badly or going swimming just to move or even just stand in the water
Keeping moving gently instead of staying absolutely still - doesn't mean staying on your feet, it can mean sitting down and circling them
Not getting too cold - or too hot (so heat pads and access to fans/aircon in summer or when flaring, cooler water when joints are hot, that kind of thing)
Not believing anybody who reckons they've found something that'll fix it without 'Big Pharma' getting involved

Paraffin hand and foot treatments can be soothing, as can warm oil massages, sweeping across towards the heart to help swelling drain rather than painful pressing/rubbing/etc.

I haven't tried it myself but tumeric/ginger shots helped a friend's painful hip.

Mine came on suddenly too. I couldn’t walk or get out of a chair. I had to wait a while to rule out reactive arthritis, which is what your GP is doing, but you can be referred to a rheumatologist to monitor you for that process and you will get better care and support from the rheumatology team with someone to call if you get into serious trouble. My team have helped me enormously. I would push for that as there are always waiting lists, though I got in relatively quickly. The first line drugs don’t work for everyone but they do for many. I know people who have been on them for years. It just depends on the severity of your disease.

Some excellent advice here.

I've had rheumatoid for long time and mine came on really suddenly too - rheumatology department near me have an emergency clinic so I was referred and diagnosed really quickly. Have you been referred to rheumatology yet? There can be quite long wait times and the sooner your treated the less damage to your joints. I did ask my consultant about diet and he said that the only thing that he would recommend was to not put any weight on which makes sense. I find that if I eat bananas it makes it worse - no idea why.

My mother has this and cleaning up her diet helped massively. She follows anti inflammatory diet (google it, there are cook books too)

There is a very interesting study from The Netherlands called plants for joints.

However my rheumatologist said it was v unlikely diet alone would take me off biologics.

Both myself and a family member with RA found losing weight to a healthy BMI helped.

I agree on the diet stuff being rubbish. I was on a super restrictive diet when diagnosed 8 years ago. I am gluten free though, as I have coeliac disease. Unfortunately treatment options are a postcode lottery like everything else.

I was diagnosed privately after my GP did the c reactive protein test and my results were sky high. The wait for NHS appointment was over 3 months. No biologics are available in my area so I have been on DMARDS for 8 years. I agree with the above that you have to take the drugs, if it is RA, nothing else will really help you.

They can take up to two years to start working properly so it can be frustrating. I am supposedly in remission now after 8 years and am being weaned off the drugs slowly but I can feel my symptoms returning.

Hope there is a health budget for rheumatology in Your area and you will be ok. Where I am it is diabolical. Good luck.

It worked for my mum. She can’t have gluten (she use coeliac, even a trace of gluten gives her joint pain) or nightshades. She does take the drugs but had residual pain.

clearly that’s a massive list but the triggers might be more limited eg gluten / nightshades - which might be restrictive but manageable.

RA is a bit of a bastard.
Lifestyle changes didn't help my Mum and she was prescribed methotrexate to slow down the RA's progress. Side effects were pretty unpleasant.
Hope your second lot of tests turned up something better for you, OP

Wholeheartedly endorsed. Take the drugs. They work (30 years experience).

I was diagnosed with RA at 31. I'm now 52. Please be aware that RA doesn't always show in blood tests xx

Random but I find Chinese food gives me flares probably the msg 😦

To be honest I found having RA bad enough without basically cutting out any pleasant food or drink.

I agree, get on the meds, steroids are great if you need them, try to keep your weight down if you can, stay warm and try to move as much as you’re able. Swimming is good. And develop an ability to ignore people who tell you their granny has arthritis.

The evidence isn’t there for gluten or nightshades AFAIK.

This is true, I am sero-negative myself, and why you need to be under a rheumatologist so a proper diagnosis can be made. I believe diagnoses of sero-ve are now beginning to be changed to fit other types. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if mine was recategorised at some point.

My advice is to take the medication, Biologics if they are offered. Don’t hold on to hope that a change in diet will work. It won’t. I have had RA since I was 30, I am 73 now. I have multiple surgeries and joint replacements. This is mainly because the drugs available in the 1980’s did not control the disease. Biologics are amazing- I have tried several, one worked for 10 years, others had no effect. I am currently on RINVOQ which has been excellent.

I agree biologics are life changing but they aren’t the first line of treatment in the UK currently as they are very expensive. It can take a long time for some people to be put on them and some people do very well on the dmards. I’m just flagging this up so OP has a realistic expectation of possible treatment pathways.