I have been on Enbrel, hydrochloroquine and folic acid for several months and it seemed like it was working for me for the most part. I always had some pain/discomfort, joint popping sounds and range of motion problems in my elbows but for the most part the pain and limited mobility went away after a few months of treatment. A few days ago my feet swelled up again, got very painful and it is making walking darn near impossible. I can feel my hands swelling again too like before I received treatment. I called my Rheumatologist and he just put me on Sulfasalazine yesterday. I see this also takes a long time to work. Are these "flare ups" something occurs often for people with RA? I know I am somewhat lucky (if you can call it that) that so far all I have are "flare ups" since some people have terrible symptoms all the time but any information will certainly help.
Hi. I'm fairly new with r.a. - my dr. said mine is sero-negative rheumatoid arthritis - I guess that's a good thing - my symptoms won't be as bad as some people's. Anyway, I am staying away from red meat and in the last 3 weeks my inflammation has gone down quite a bit. Maybe you can try it. Good luck!
Hi Laurie, it's wonderful when something as simple as avoiding red meat (unless your husband loves it!) can be so helpful (not to mention inexpensive, with no 'side-effects')
I avoid red meat too, and find it lessens pain. My husband does cook, and eat red meat, and also loves to barbecue, any meat there is (from the store anyway - he's not a hunter!). We'll just share the stuff we both like, and he eats more meat, and I eat more fish... he even cooks fish for me, he's great about that!
Thanks for sharing - I hope your Ra is not as bad, but I have heard that sero-negative does not necessarily mean it cannot be as bad. But I do think sometimes the treatment is different. For some people (maybe like you) the diet does have a tremendous effect. I wish you well!
as soon as I hit the "comment" button!