Saturday, September 05, 2009 Marilyn asks

Q: What are the do's and don'ts when you've first been diagnosed with RA?

I was just diagnosed with RA and just had my bone density test and was temporily put on pednisone untill treatment is decided.

My mom just recently passed away but suffered from sever RA for 40 years with several surgerys and different types of meds.

These meds scare me and I would prefer to do more holistic treatments but also so not want my RA to get out of hand.

I want to control my RA the best I can without letting it control my life.

What has worked for everyone and what would you recommend for some one who has just been diagnosed. I understand all situtations are different but what are the do's and don'ts?

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Answers (2)

Lene Andersen, Health Guide

9/13/09 8:01pm

it's normal to be afraid when you first get a diagnosis of RA and even more so when you've watched your mother suffer with the disease. Please know that RA today is nothing like the RA your mother had. Advances in medication has completely changed the prognosis and it is entirely likely that you will be able to live a close to normal life for a very long time. However, in order to do that, you need to treat your disease early and aggressively to protect your joints from damage. So your first step is to find yourself a good rheumatologist, some medication that works for you and then get back to living your life. You can check out a post called five things to do for the newly diagnosed and you may also want to check out our area for people who have just been diagnosed - it contains a number of posts on the different aspects of living well with RA.

And keep reading. This is a fantastic site, full of very active and supportive members who will be here to listen and to help you when you need it.

gina5595

9/12/09 10:59pm

I'm sorry to hear about your mother. I can only tell you what has worked for me. I was diagnosed a little over one year ago and I got started on the "first level" drug called methotrexate right after diagnosis and it sstarted helping very quickly. I am currently switching to the infusions but the methotrexate worked well for over a year.

The only other thing I can think of to tell you is to not do anything that would aggrevate a joint and bring on a flare up. I found early on that aerobics or bike riding or anything with lots of joint movements such as kicking and such were not going to work. I stick to swimming. For the most part I do ok with this disease. It has it's moments and I have mine.

Good luck, it's do-able.

Q: What are the do's and don'ts when you've first been diagnosed with RA?

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