Reply to Tell me about life with Rheumatoid Arthritis

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As I read more about my health issues (swollen joints, tinnitus, skin issues, and more), I keep reading inflammation is the cause.

Much of what people are writing here supports that inflammation is a huge issue—PSA, Crohn’s, RA, etc.

I read there is some connection between hearing loss and RA and inflammation can cause both.

Thank you for this thread. This made me consider visiting a different rheumatologist because she seems to consider only RA yet I never heard about arthritis related to Crohn’s Disease. All I know is my joints are swollen and no doctor has given me a definitive answer despite years of visiting different doctors.

There’s interesting research about the brain’s microglia going haywire due to inflammation and causing health issues. Worth a google to read the studies.

[/quote]

In my experience, many doctors do not consider spondyloarthritis for women because of the outdated notion that it is a men's autoimmune disease.  Spondyloarthritis encompasses a number of sub-types.  Ankylosing spondylitis is generally the most extreme form, and men are more prone to get it.  Other sub-types are psoriatic arthritis, which occurs with psoriasis; enteropathic spondyloarthritis, which occurs with Crohn's and inflammatory bowel disease; and reactive arthritis, generally transitory and occurring after an infection. There is also what used to be called undifferentiated spondyloarthritis, which is now more refined to axial (affecting mostly the spine and back) and peripheral (affecting joints more distant from the spine like shoulders and neck).

There is a genetic test they do for spondyloarthritis for HLA B27.  A large mistake many less informed doctors make is to think a patient who is negative for this gene does not have spondyloarthritis--this is now known not to be true, though a positive test points to a stronger possibility of having it; positive rates, however, are quite high for the ankylosing spondylitis subtype.  An MRI of the sacroiliac joints can confirm a diagnosis, but a skilled rheumatologist can make a pretty accurate clinical diagnosis.

The number one misdiagnosis for women with spondyloarthritis is fibromyalgia.[/quote]

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