Saturday, April 24, 2010 Carole asks

Q: My doctor told me I have RA. She said it is in stage 8, what does this mean?

I have been told by doctor that I have RA, she also said it is in stage 8. What that mean, stage 8?

Please help me to understand the stage of RA?

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Answers (3)

Brad, Health Guide

4/27/10 8:41pm

Carole,

I have never heard of such a thing either. Can you put a call in to your doctor or the nurse and ask? I always ask for printouts of paperwork and lab results, and they happily provide them. I even googled stage 8 and came up with nothing! Good luck finding out what she is talking about, and please let us know when you do!

Brad

ronie

4/24/10 4:44pm

Truthfully, I have never heard of Stage 8. In general the stages of RA refer to the rate of inflamation, deterioration and/or deformity your joints may have. I have only heard this in reference to 4 stages.

#1 diagnoses in part with symetrical joint swelling, pain and stiffness. No evidence of joint damage or hardening of synovial fluid in xrays.

#2 hardening of synovial fluid in the joints and loss of cushioning space in the joints. Small evidence can be seen in an xray

#3 wearing away of cartlige and loss of alignment in joints. Increased pain and some loss of dexterity and mobility.

#4 General refered to as the final stage where mobility of affected joints is completely loss and deformity is irreversible.

This of course is only an abbreviated reference. There are also subclasses to each stage.

If you find out exactly what Stage 8 is, please let me know. I am in stage 4 right now after 20+ years and I would like to know if I have anything else to anticipate.

I will do more research online as well. None of the books I have on it mention anything beyond 4 stages.

Thanks,

Ronie

Lene Andersen, Health Guide

5/ 4/10 3:13pm

I've had RA for 43 years, have worked for MyRACentral for 2 years and have never heard of RA having stages. Very strange. Did find a page that referred to 4 stages of RA, but to be honest, I'm not sure it's of much use. According to that page, in stage 4, the inflammation subsides and aside from the odd person who experiences remission (often temporary), to my knowledge, it's a chronic illness that only goes away if you're on medication - if you stop the meds, it comes back. Personally, mine's never subsided without the help of DMARDs (disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs like methotraxate, Arava and the biologics).

Like Brad, I'd suggest you ask your doctor to share more details of this with you. If you find out more about this, would you be willing to write about it in a SharePost?

Q: My doctor told me I have RA. She said it is in stage 8, what does this mean?

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