It’s possible to have RA and not live with pain all the time. Some people have flares, times where the pain is difficult to manage alternating with time when it’s not too bad. Others live with the pain and disfigurement caused by the arthritis just about all the time.

With RA, the synovium (lining) of the joints becomes inflamed. This causes damage, which in turn causes pain and the disfigurement as the joints are shifted.

At first, treatment involves anti-inflammatory drugs to help keep the inflammation down in the joints, but for some people, the disease is so severe that this doesn’t help. Once they’ve tried just about every treatment available, their doctors may suggest that they try a medication called methotrexate.

Methotrexate was originally used as a chemotherapy drug for people with various types of cancer. It is a very powerful medication that must be monitored closely. However, researchers found that not only was methotrexate good for cancer treatments, it helped relieve the pain and disability of rheumatoid arthritis.

While this was good news, there was a lot of concern about the long-term effect of methotrexate in people who take it for RA. The good news is, a recent review of 88 studies on the topic has found that patients who took methotrexate over 2 years appeared to be doing well.

You can read more about the study and its findings in this article, Long-term methotrexate appears safe in arthritis.

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Image courtesy PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Blisstree

Methotrexate and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that causes pain, stiffness, swelling, and limitation in the motion and function of many joints. An estimated 2.1 million Americans have RA, most of them women. Although joints are the principal body parts affected by RA, inflammation can develop in other organs as well. Heart attacks, resulting from inflammation of the coronary vessels, are more common in RA sufferers.

Researchers have been studying reducing the risk of heart attacks among patients by using a TNF-inhibitor in conjunction with the tried and true methotrexate. TNF-inhibitor is a drug that blocks cytokines and thus reduces stiffness, pain and swollen joints.

Researchers found that patients on a combination of TNF-inhibitors with methotrexate treatment had a heart attack risk of only 20 percent of the risk compared to patients taking methotrexate alone.

Interestingly enough, there was no benefit to taking the TNF-inhibitors alone. Thus the combination that makes the difference.

Adapted from American College of Rheumatology

Post from: Blisstree

Reducing The Risk Of Heart Attacks By 80% Among Rheumatoid Arthritis Sufferers