Anyone know about rheumatoid arthritis?

[hester]

My youthful, active mum has just been diagnosed and everything I read about it sounds so very grim

Does anyone have any good advice/information to share? Is there any hope that, with treatment, she can be active and pain-free?

My dd has Juevenile arthritis, takes methotrexate once a week & voltoral everyday,
she does gentle exercises morn & night, pushes herself to keep up with others her age, she can get grumpy when her joints are sore

It is abit different but if she gets the right medication gentle exercise swimming & cycling are brilliant for arthritis

Have to play around with medication to find the best combo. Be patient and persistent, something I'm not very good at!

Take Glucosamine and Chondroitin tablets which ime are great, but have to take for 3 months if you are going to see any difference.

But mine's very mild and am pg so no symptoms. SIL has it worse but she has very good medication. Has given up contact sport and had to swap sports car for something with much lighter handling but otherwise manages very well indeed.

Thanks, both. Very reassuring to hear that life can continue as normal, with minor modifications.

I have recently been diagnosed with a form of arthritis (still not definite exactly what). I'm guessing I'm a good few years younder than your mum (though older than PlumBum's daughter!)

ARC is a great resource for all forms of arthritis and info is generally very positively slanted. There are good drugs around these days - they aren't without their side effects but overall the prognosis is much, much better than it used to be.

Oh, that's really useful - many thanks, Crapweasel. I'm so sorry about your diagnosis; are you doing ok?

oh yeap forgot about Arc and if you go to their site and tick which leaflets you would like and they send them out to you for free very informative

Thank you, PlumBumMum (great name!); I'm off to do that now. Thanks so much for your help.

Hopefully your mum has been referred to a rheumatologist? When my DH was diagnosed I asked for a referral and didn't accept advice from GP to just take Brufen!

He was started on a type of medication called a DMARD which modifies the disease and can help prevent joint damage due to inflammation. He is sulfasalazine and voltarol.

Takes some time to get on top of it and he has to be careful at times with strenuous activities which he feels frustrating ie cannot spend hours digging the garden etc.

It is manageable and he is well now.

Hi,
I don't have any personal experience but remember reading an article about Sir Ranulph Fiennes in the Telegraph a couple of years ago. You could Google it. It was to do with drinking cider vinegar and honey and what a huge difference it made to his condition. Hope it helps!

Lots of hope I would say. I was diagnosed about 18 months ago, and it was a bit of a shock at first, and I was rather down about it (although was pregnant so hormones probably paid a big part in my reactions). However, once I got over my initial reactions I've found it be fine. As others say takes a while to find the right medication and dose but now it's settled down I find it hardly impacts me at all. I'm on sulfasalazine and low dose prednisolone.

One thing I find really helpful and reassuring is that round here there are specialist RA nurses who you can speak to. Might be worth finding out if there's that option for your mum. I ring them as soon as I have any niggles or flare ups because it's important to keep on top of any swelling & pain to prevent long term damage. Round here consultant appointments are few and far between so knowing there is someone on the end of the telephone makes a big difference to me.

Also, RA is a big research area and there are lots of new treatments newly available and being developed so always a possibility to get onto clinical trials or patient access schemes if that's something your mum would consider.

Yes agree about rheumatology nurses. They are at the end of the phone. Last flareup DH had, the rheumatology nurses organised steroid injection for him. Specialist advice on tap.

mears, yes she is seeing a rheumatologist but not till April.

Freezing - that's really helpful and it's good to know about the RA nurses.

Thanks everyone, this thread is making me feel loads better