My mom went to the doctor this morning, and they suspect that she has rheumatoid arthritis. Auto-immune disease runs in our family, so its not a huge shock, but no one in our family has RA. She is 61 yrs old, and has pain in her finger and wrist joints. We are waiting to hear back on the blood test. If it is in fact RA, what kind of prognosis is there for a woman her age, with her symptoms? What kind of treatment options are there?

I am 24 years old and I just found out that I have RA (rheumatoid arthritis). I don not want to take medications for the rest of my life and am just wondering if I have any other approaches for treatment options.

My mom has it and refuses to take medication. She had tried methotrexate, but the side effects were bad (particularly reduced mental function), so she stopped taking it. Her mom takes a different medication (I don’t remember what it’s called), and she won’t try that one because you have to stop taking it if you get an infection and then you feel even worse than before, from what my grandma says.

The only "treatment" she’s willing to try is follow this super strict diet that a holistic type doctor gave her, but I’m not sure how effective it is, and she never follows it very well for very long anyways.

I’m worried about degeneration. Are there any good treatment options that don’t generally have such negative side effects?

Does anyone know about treatment options for Psoriatic arthritis? I need to know to help someone I love in my family. Any information will help and if anyone recommends any physicians.

Thank you

My husband is 44 and was just diagnosed. He just completed additional bloodwork and xrays. At his next appointment in one week we are suppose to discuss treatment options. Any advice?

I've been to two ortho surgeons, and I've had conflicting pieces of info…

Doc A claims I have a meniscus tear, while Doc B claims it is arthritis behind the patella. Both docs have ordered and gotten MRI's.

Can symptoms of meniscus tear be confused with knee arthritis, or vice versa ?

In case someone is wondering, the symptoms is basically pain: High intensity movement triggered. It can linger for 1-2 hours but intensity decreases overtime. I can't really say I have episodes of "locking".

Thx!. I am extremely confused…
Ha!.

I got two MRI's ~4months apart.
My main interest, is defining proper action. I don't need to believe one or the other. I want to be informed as to proper treatment options.