Identifying New RA symptoms

If I'm honest I try not to put everything down to my RA I just try to get on with life because I believe that a pimple on the end of your nose could be a symptom if you let it be 🤔 and it could become completely debilitating

Some of your symptoms could turn out to be your medication

RA is not half as bad nowadays as it was 30/40 years ago

I agree with Alexandria with comment about could be side effects of your medications or it may be RA or nothing to do with either. When I saw my rheum MD re knee pain I immed said it has to be RA and he said not to always jump to that conclusion. I am 70 though so he suggested it could be OA or just a pain from activity. Xrays were neg and it went away--for now. His advice was not to chalk everything up to RA but to be alert to side effects of medications. Dry mouth can be side effect of meds or it can be another autoimmune disease. I also have dry eye but it is related to a surgeryf for a corneal disease I have that is not autoimmune condition

Do look over your medication side effects and if something is bothering you alert the consultant or doc. Bruising is something I would talk to the doc about though.

We can live with RA but we have to adjust to it and be thankful for the newer medications with lot fewer side effects than in the old days. My Aunt took massive doses of aspirin and gold injections for RA--what was available in the 50s and 60s. She suffered terribly from them

Hi Michelle, i'm not on the same meds as you, but since iv been diagnosed with RA and on meds, i have had very dry eyes. Plus i bruise very easily and thats since iv been on meds, the jaw ache too. It could be the RA or the meds, but as someone has already advised, you probably should ask. it is easy to blame everything on our medical problems. The information included with your meds does help. Good luck.

Having a dry mouth could be a symptom of another autoimmune disease called Sjogren's syndrome. Sjogren's can cause dry eye dry mouth dry nose dry ears even dry skin. But it can also cause joint pain and fatigue. there's a blood test you can get to check for it but they can give a false negative. so if that happens and they still suspect Sjogren's your doctor may refer you to an oral surgeon to do a lip biopsy. these are more accurate but even those can give you a false negative. there is no cure for Sjogren's but your symptoms can be managed with medication. It would certainly be something to bring up to your rheumatologist if you think you have some of the symptoms.

Thank you all for your advice and input! I'm going to see my Rheumatologist shortly and hopefully can clear my mind a bit.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and thank you again.

Hi, Michelle:

It took me several years to finally realize that any symptoms I have should be reported to my rheumatologist because, more often than not, the symptoms are a result of RA. For example, the skin on my elbows disappeared and they were raw on the surface. That was from RA. Then I had some bumps (pimples?) around my lips. That was due to a lack of folic acid in my system from RA, so I was put on leucovorin (digested folic acid) and that stopped that symptom. Another time I had very sore ribs. My rheumatologist poked my ribs, I yelped and jumped, and he said "Like that?" It was almost comical. Again, RA was the culprit. My achiles tendon on the right foot was sore for months.....RA again. You get the picture. So do not dismiss symptoms, bring them up to your doc.

Hope this helps, and best wishes.

Tim

Forgot to mention I am on methotrexate and plaquenil, but these drugs were not contributing to my symptoms.

Tim