Year Two with RA: Learning to Live with Autoimmunity

Josephine is practicing Tai Chi regularly. Living With It I was diagnosed with seronegative RA in 2007. I am interested in... Send Message Subscribe: Josephine

Saturday, July 25, 2009
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Hi All, I have not created a post of my own for some time and thought that I would share what things are like with me. I've completed my second year with RA and am entering into year three. Year Two has been one of learning: Learning a lot about RA and automimmune disease; ...

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Lene Andersen
Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 11:10 AM

thank you so much for this wonderful post - so great to see that although you may not yield to return to nursing, you have found another career, using your RA as a springboard.

In terms of the NSAIDs vs steroids dilemma, I think it's a little bit six of one, half-dozen of them the other. I would suggest that you ask both your doctors to give your a pro and con list about the two medications and then you make the decision. Obviously, if it is discovered that your hip problem is a result of steroid use, that tips the scales in favor of NSAIDs. However, your rheumatologist may have very sound reasons for not recommending NSAIDs, in which case you could have a conversation about which NSAID would give you maximum effect and lowest degree of side effects. Or what about looking at opiates? An opiate medication could give you good pain control without the concerns of ateroids or NSAIDs.

re: Untitled Comment
Josephine
Monday, August 03, 2009 at 10:11 PM

Thanks Lene,

Well, I got some good news - the MRI showed no significant damage to the hip and no AVN. It looks more like a tendonitis and so we'll try PT first, and use a steroid injection if the PT fails to give the result we hope for. Interestingly, the ortho doc gave the green light to cortisone injection after determining that there was no AVN. I'd still like to avoid injecting such a deep joint if we can.

I also saw my rheumy and he added hydroxychloroquine to my meds, hoping that it will give me relief from the nagging joint pain that I continue to experience. He did explain his preference for cortisone too, stating that cortisone has a greater therapeutic effect in reducing inflammation than NSAIDs, and thus when used judiciously, can preserve joints more effectively than NSAIDs.

So here's hoping that the hydroxychloroquine and PT do the trick! Relief will not be immediate, but when is it ever with RA? If there is one thing that RA teaches, its patience and hope for a better tomorrow.

Josephine

re: re: Untitled Comment
Lene Andersen
Tuesday, August 04, 2009 at 10:45 AM

That's good news! I hope this work out for you.