Rheumatoid Arthritus?

Here is my best advice borne of long experience. It works every time if you will live like this.
A- NO sugar. I mean it absolutely nothing with sugar in it. Sugar will send your RA into full blown pain.

B- Goodbye dairy in every single form for a year. Then you can eat Mancheco and other sheep cheeses. You can also use goat cheese. Bread must be whole grain. The best is gluten free.

C-Walk do yoga and keep the joints moving. It's the daily treatment to stay alive without damage.

I have a friend who has RA, both the mom and the daughter have it. They have done many of the new treatments for it, one was even a kind of Chemo that basically stopped it in its tracks. They have been pain free and at minimal levels for quite some time. They take care of themselves and they take their meds every day. They try new treatments when they fit the criteria and they don't pretend it doesn't exist.

It is something very livable. If you let it be your controlling factor it can take over your life, it you treat it and fight it every day you can control it for a very long long long time.

To be honest with high ANA you could have any host of Auto immune disorders including RA of course. Lupus.. Crohn's tons of others. Last I read there are more than 10,000 AI disorders. Most not even a thousand have. Not to mention it might be something that never ever actualizes. Doesn't hurt to go see a RA but if nothing is currently bothering you it's a giant waste of money in my opinion.

If you do have RA, then it would explain why you haven't felt well. RA can be debilitating with the pain and fatigue. I would google anti-inflammatory foods. Do you take a while to get moving in the morning? Like your joints are warming up? That's a sign of RA. Finally, I hope you don't have it, but do hope you find out soon if you do have a disease or condition which needs treatment. Hugs.

Hi J.---If you have an autoimmune disease, it simply means that you have a weakened immune system. To strengthen it, and bring it back into balance, you must start with changing your diet.

I work with healthcare professionals who use diet first in treating disease. It's amazing how powerful our body is in maintaining our health and then returning it to health when if we get sick...if we give it the tools with which to do that. We must also avoid negative foods and habits in order for our body to do it's job as well.

I recommend visiting the website www.pcrm.org and explore that thoroughly. There is a section in there about diet and autoimmune disorders. The bottom line is you need to eat only plants and as many different kinds of veggies that you possibly can. Plant based foods offer the body the nutrients needed to maintain optimal health. Animal foods, and especially dairy, cause inflammation in the body, especially if the diet is not balanced with adequate plant foods.

Please understand I am not suggesting that your diet is bad, but rather that it may not be what your body needs to keep your immune system balanced. Some people are just blessed with genes (and the family lifestyle that goes along with it) that require a person to be more diligent with diet and lifestyle habits.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions with what I am proposing. I can offer you information that most physicians are totally unaware of...because they know nothing of the power of nutrition. I work with a Dr. who has celiacs disease. He has practiced a nearly vegetarian diet, along with adding a food based supplement and now has no gluten antibodies in his blood at all. I can put you in touch with him, or a variety of other healthcare professionals. It would be my honor. You don't want to have to manage this issue. You want to get to the bottom of it...and that is to balance your immune system.

Good luck...I'll be thinking of you. D.
BTW...I am a fellow Iowan, from Sioux City, now living in Michigan. Go Cyclones!

There are numerous things that can be helpful with Rheumatoid Arthritis, but there can be many adverse side effects to so many medications. My job includes treatment of patients with RA and regardless of their medical treatments, they still have issues with the pain and joints, and most of them have other health problems as well. Some get devastating side effects and long term use of the drugs markedly increase the risk of cancer, and some of the drugs for RA are also used in treatment of some cancers. Those particular drugs even further compromise your already compromised immune system.
I do believe medication is necessary for some things, but if you can use more conservative methods before you have to go on some of the drugs, it would be to your advantage.
The old saying "YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT" is full of truth. Dietary changes, could be more valuable than anything else you can do, but given that, even people who eat "healty" can still have many health problems. The key is ABSORPTION and how your body utilizes what you take in.
There are tons of supplements on the market, tons of vitamins that don't do anything. Finding the right product /products can be trial and error.
Outside of nursing, I have had experience with helping people with RA, through nutrition get off of all their arthritis meds.
Working with a Food Science Company with clinical trials to support evidence of effectiveness has been an eye opener, that the medical field does not have all the answers.
At your age, it would behoove you to start with nutrition, especially if you don't have insurance coverage. Some of the drugs that are used are several thousand dollars PER DOSE, and I have some patients who get them IV every 5 to 8 weeks. If your benefit coverage isn't good, or you have high deductibles or co-pays, you won't be able to take them.
The best investment anyone can make is good nutrition for overall good health.
I can give you resources to check this out in person without any obligation to see if that would be an avenue you would be interested in.
Send p m for contact information or questions.

Unless you are having some unusual symptoms (like pain, fatigue, etc) of one of the many diseases, a RA may not be able to diagnose you, yet.
I have had had high ANA and high protein in urine for a couple of decades. I have been seeing the same RA for over 7 years and we have just in the past few months been able to make a new diagnosis so we knew what to treat.
This can be a very slow process. It can involve other specialists. Sometimes it is just a constant give blood and hurry up and wait. It can take me two months to see my RA - she's that busy.
If you need to wait for insurance, You might need to wait to make the appointment as well. Some insurances don't like you to act without their authority and it might require a recommendation from you primary.
Doctors called me a hypochondriac for a few years at first. Boy, did I prove them wrong! (Pretty much they say my DNA sucks.)
Don't go nuts on the internet. It will only cause stress and unneeded worry.
Just concentrate on eating healthy, exercising, and getting enough sleep. That will help your doctors make better diagnosises as well - by getting some of the basics out of the way.
Best wishes - take care of yourself.
BTW - Unless he is psychic, your boyfriend owes you an apology for being a jerk.

My brother in law was diagnosed with RA in his 20s... He was in a lot of pain. It got so bad that he could not dress himself because lifting his arms and pulling on socks became impossible. I know there are varying degrees of the disease, but I think he's got a pretty severe case. He's tried many different types of medication, but has yet to find one that will help him very much. He has good days and bad days.

I think probably the worst thing you can do right now is to try to find a bunch of what if's on the internet. You said yourself you are a hypochondriac, so you know you are just feeding the monster by doing that. And your fiance was such a jerk to say that about your fingers! I don't really think you need to be super concerned about that.

Make the appointment with the rheumatologist, take in your list of questions and concerns, and see what they say. It might be hard to diagnose RA if you aren't having any symptoms. But they can tell you what to watch for if you are truly at risk, and more importantly, have them tell you what NOT to worry about, so you don't drive yourself crazy. :)

Wishing you good luck and good health.