Brief Answer:
is it rheumatoid arthritis

Detailed Answer:
Good evening

Thank you for writing on health care magic

Well I have gone through your history. I would like to ask you a few questions before suggesting further treatment

1. What is the duration of joint pains?

2. Did you experience swelling as well?

3/ any early morning stiffness?

4. Any history of backache or neck.pain

5. Any history of preceding loose motions or urine infection

Do let me know these queries
RA can be falsely elevated in normal.people as well but it doesn't imply you have rheumatoid arthritis.

So I would like to know these few queries before suggesting you further treatment

Regards
Dr naval

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Brief Answer:
? Is it Rheumatoid Arthritis

Detailed Answer:
Good evening

Well i am not too sure here if you have rheumatoid arthritis or not. Considering no swelling/morning stiffness it is very hard to say it rheumatoid just on the basis of Rheumatoid FActor.

Did you consult a rheumatologist or an orthopedic cause the diagnosis and treatment will differ accordingly. If you can attach a copy of the prescription, it would be helpful as i would like to see what they exactly examined.

RF can be falsely positive in 10 % Population but doesnt mean you have rheumatoid arthritis and we need to treat it with strong medications. One needs to examine the joints and have supporting history of swellings and early morning stiffness to label it as rheumatoid.

SO do let me know this presciption and i will suggest you take a 2nd opinion before starting Folitrax.

DO let me know and i will be able to guide you further

REgards
DR Naval

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Brief Answer:
? Is it Rheumatoid Arthritis

Detailed Answer:
Good evening

I would not suggesting you starting on Methotrexate on such a short duration of joint pains. It is not a recommended advice. I would still suggest you consult a rheumatologist and let them examine you once before giving you the final conclusion. Since i have not examined you, it is a bit hard to say what kind of joint pains you have. But since you had it for only 1-2 weeks, I wont start Methotrexate, rather give you a trial with Anti inflammatory to see if it improves. If you want a contact of rheumatologist near you , do let me know. I can help you out

Regards
Dr Naval

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Brief Answer:
? Is it Rheumatoid Arthritis

Detailed Answer:
Good evening

Sorry for late reply, was stuck in hospital duty.

I have gone through your prescription and the blood reports.

Well there are certain things you need to understand

1. I am not sure on what basis were the medications started as you did not have the symptoms of Rheumatoid. I am assuming it was started on the basis of the pains and lab result, as is the common practice in our country. Even though you results are positive, it does not imply you have arthritis. Both have to go hand in hand. So for me it still remains a dilemma and i cant sort it out till i examine you or another rheumatologist does. The other investigation fr rheumatoid arthritis confirmation is, Ultrasound of the joints as it can pick up the signals earlier than expected.

2. Secondly i am more worried about you being on Wysolone. FOlitrax can be stopped at once but you getting dependent on Wysolone daily , will be hard to go off. I would suggest you taper wysolone. Make it 5 mg once a day for 2 weeks and then once every other day for 2 weeks and then go off it. If it is rheumatoid or even if is not, we normally dont use steroids orally as patient gets dependent on it. So my advise, go off it

3. You cant reduce RA as such. If it is positive , it will remain positive. WE normally dont monitor it to cure your disease. If your joint symptoms get better, that all will matter.

Hope the information was useful

DO let me know for more queries

Regards
Dr Naval

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Brief Answer:
? Is it Rheumatoid Arthritis

Detailed Answer:
Good morning

Well, CRAT is another form of wysolone only. It is defzacort which is another steroid. Kindly try and taper that as well as you dont want to land up with diabetes and other problems due to steroids.

2. As for lifestyle: Daily exercises is recommended. Brisk walk for half an hour along with some yoga( stretching one) which you already do. Make sure you dont fold your knees too much in it. As for the food , we normally dont recommend any restriction, but in-case you feel you are getting pains after eating something avoid that. Lot of people experience problems after dairy products. But it is more of individual thing and you need to figure it out yourself.

3. IF you get pain once in a while, you can take NSAIDS like nucoxia or so. If the episodes are frequent we may need to increase Folitrax(provided it is confirmed rheumatoid)

4. We dont suggest homeo or Ayurveda. Firstly never combine the 2 modalities, as Ayurveda also has some component which suppresses the pain but does not control the disease. Lot of people come to us with no pain but joints getting deformed. SO jst stick to one line of treatment

HOpe the information was useful

Do let me know for more queries

Regards
Dr Naval

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Brief Answer:
Rheumatoid Arthritis

Detailed Answer:
Good morning

Pertaining to your queries:

1. Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune disease, that is your immune system gets hyperactivated. So instead of recognizing your body it starts attacking it like it is some foreign body( eg: Your own locality cops starting hitting you for no reason ). What triggers is very hard to say. It can be an enviromental factor or a simple viral infection. Still lot of research is going on, but no fixed answer yet. But it is not due to your sitting for long hours

2. It is controllable. More like diabetes. You take medications and it is kept under check. But yes, once the disease is better the medications reduce in number( both with dosage and the number)

3. Dont worry about salt. It is not known to cause damage to the bone. Little salt is needed in the food. It wont deposit on your bones and damage them

4. Folitrax is a disease modifying drug( DMARD). When your immune system is active, it tends to produce more number of cells( Like T or B cells), which initially are in smaller numbers but due to the disease the number is increased. So folitrax acts on the enzymes and makes sure their function is limited, so they cause less of damage. As for side effects, you need to continue Folvite 5 mg daily( except on the day of folitrax), monitor your Liver function tests and complete blood counts every 3 months and avoid alcohol along with. Overall it is a safe drug, just needs to be monitored.

5. As for homeopathic medications, personal experience i would share. 70 % of XXXXXXX patients dont take allopathic medications in first go. Once we tell them it is arthritis and can only be controlled, all jump to alternative medication as people promise them they can cure the disease. An year later they come back. The pain is improved but they have damaged most of their joints as it fails to control the disease. So i wont suggest you go for it, but rest is upto you

Hope i have answered your queries

Do let me know for any more queries you have. I like educating the patients about their disease.

Regards
Dr Naval

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