Category Archives: Featured

ra vaccines

RA & Vaccinations

Keeping up with your vaccinations is always a smart move, but getting immunized is especially important when you have an autoimmune disease like rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Both RA and the medicines you take to treat it can increase your risk for infections.

When Joan Wilkinson’s RA flared, her rheumatologist insisted that she and her husband get pneumonia and shingles vaccines to protect her from these common infections. “He said, ‘When you leave here today, go straight to the pharmacist,’” she recalls.

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Fibromyalgia and RA

RA With a Side of Fibromyalgia

For years, fibromyalgia was a mystery illness. No one knew what caused it, how to diagnose it or how best to treat it. Some people, including doctors, even questioned its existence. In the last few years, however, researchers have cleared up some of the mystery. Although much about fibromyalgia still isn’t understood completely, two things are clear: It’s very real, and it affects a disproportionate number of people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
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Biologics Rheumatoid Arthritis Cancer

Biologics Appear Safe for Some Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Who’ve Had Cancer

Researchers set out to answer a pressing question: Is it safe for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who have had cancer in the past to use a biologic drug rather than a traditional disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD), like methotrexate, to control their disease? Their answer, detailed in a study recently published online in the journal Rheumatology, is reassuring. They found that patients with a previous malignancy who later took certain biologics did not appear to have an increased risk of cancer after an average of five years, compared to those who took a traditional DMARD.
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Anti TNF RA Flare

Study: Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis Flare Triples in People Who Stop Anti-TNFs

Biologic drugs make it possible for many people with inflammatory types of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), to achieve low disease activity or remission. But because of the drugs’ cost and the potential for serious side effects, many patients don’t want to stay on them indefinitely, so researchers have been looking at whether it’s possible to taper or stop them. A new study, published recently in Arthritis & Rheumatology, is adding to the growing body of research on the topic.
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Track React Rheumatoid Arthritis Tracking Tool

Announcing the New and Improved Rheumatoid Arthritis Track + React App!

Track what you do and how you feel on a daily basis – even when you’re on the go! The newly relaunched Track + React app can be used as a web tool on arthritis.org as well as on your smartphone via the app. Track + React features a completely revamped free mobile app available for download for iPhone and Android devices that allows you to track key daily activities related to your rheumatoid arthritis (RA) wherever you are.
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Rheumatoid Arthritis Flares Management Control

Get and Keep Control of Your Rheumatoid Arthritis

When arthritis is active and painful, you have a constant reminder and strong incentive to take your medications. But when your disease is under control, it may be easy to forget a dose or two or you may even be tempted to stop taking your medication altogether. But doing so is not a good idea. The way you are feeling – particularly when you are on medication – is not always an indication of whether there is underlying disease activity. Stopping your medication could cause your disease to flare, resulting in the irreparable joint damage your doctor was aiming to prevent when prescribing medications in the first place.
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Gut Bacteria Microbes Rheumatoid Arthritis

Gut Bacteria: A Potential Game Changer for Rheumatoid Arthritis

You share your body with trillions of microbes – many of them beneficial bacteria living in your intestinal tract. Collectively called the microbiome, these bugs influence health and disease through complex interactions with your immune system. Often, their role is protective, guarding against pathogens and inflammation. But increasingly strong evidence suggests that disruptions in the microbial ecosystem may cause or contribute to many chronic diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Jose Scher, MD, a rheumatologist at New York University Langone Medical Center, studies the connection between intestinal bugs and arthritis. He thinks the overgrowth of normally benign bacteria called Prevotella – which are far more abundant in people with untreated RA – may trigger an inflammatory response that targets the joints. It’s also possible Prevotella crowds out beneficial bacteria that keep inflammation in check. Either way, Scher is confident there’s a connection between the microbiome and arthritis.
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