kageyd
01-22-2010, 11:47 AM
I just posted the statement below in a reply to someone else, but it strikes me that answers get lost if they're way down a thread list, and I thought quite a few people might want this information. The quotation marks are mine, from my post elsewhere.
"Well, I did have a talk with my rheumatologist this week (Jan 20) about how she will know whether or not my meds are helping. Tne answers, which she gives freely and openly, are as I expected: 1. patient reports about pain - better, worse, or same; 2. swelling at joints, especially around fingers (that's where my initial diagnosis started, swollen finger joints); and 3. joint stiffness. I asked about x-rays, and she said no more than once every 6 months, because the "pictures" of damage around joints are often not too helpful. "
"The underlying answer seems to be, and I thank her for her honesty, RA does not 'get better,' except in pain reduction, reduced swelling, and reduced stiffness. So even with the biologics, the intent of medications is to stop the progress of RA, not really to repair existing damage. To the best of my knowledge and my reading, I don't see anyone claiming to have rebuilt the synovial tissue in the joints which is what is damaged in the first place. If anyone has seen a scientific report on the actual repair of synovial tissue, let us know!"
"Well, I did have a talk with my rheumatologist this week (Jan 20) about how she will know whether or not my meds are helping. Tne answers, which she gives freely and openly, are as I expected: 1. patient reports about pain - better, worse, or same; 2. swelling at joints, especially around fingers (that's where my initial diagnosis started, swollen finger joints); and 3. joint stiffness. I asked about x-rays, and she said no more than once every 6 months, because the "pictures" of damage around joints are often not too helpful. "
"The underlying answer seems to be, and I thank her for her honesty, RA does not 'get better,' except in pain reduction, reduced swelling, and reduced stiffness. So even with the biologics, the intent of medications is to stop the progress of RA, not really to repair existing damage. To the best of my knowledge and my reading, I don't see anyone claiming to have rebuilt the synovial tissue in the joints which is what is damaged in the first place. If anyone has seen a scientific report on the actual repair of synovial tissue, let us know!"