First off, do you mean OA rather than OR?  And if you do, if you can not take
anti inflammatories, there really isnt a whole lot they can do for it.  And in
all honesty, you could end up with fingers that are twisted and bent.  But that
doest mean that you will be an invalid. They can now replace joints that have
destroyed by arthritis.  I personally have 2 artificial knees, and expect that
there will be hips, at least 1 shoulder and 1 elbow in my future some day.
They can even replace those joints in your fingers that make them look so
awful.

Also, I am interested in the diagnosis of "maybe a bit of RA".  Is that your
phrasing or the doctors?  Regardless.  If you have a diagnosis of RA, early,
aggressive treatment is the key to preventing damage.

Let us know what you find out in 2 weeks.
Char

"Remember, I'm pulling for ya'. We're all in this together." Red Green

The days of permanently disfigured hands are over for most people, now
that we've got new drugs to control inflammatory arthritis early on.
Some people -- not many, but some -- get severe arthritis, or even get
moderate arthritis that isn't well controlled by drugs. But so many
people find themselves doing well on modern drugs that it prevents a
lot of the joint damage that used to happen.

Many of the older people you see with profound joint damage, even
deformations, used to take scads of aspirin and not much else, maybe
prednisone or gold (which sometimes works but doesn't always) to
control their arthritis.

I hope you find something that works for you. :)
-
Mary MacT
http://www.alamedacreek.net

The "maybe a bit of RA " really is curious. My hands were so swollen and
that I couldn't close them and so painful I couldn't get dressed and my
doctor still had a problem with the diagnosis. My test did eventually come
back positive.I guess my undertanding is you have it or you don't! My
cousin, visiting last week, said something similar when I was telling here
about my recent diagnosis...she said she had 'borderline rheumatoid'.
However I will say this, for me, getting the diagnosis was difficult, it,
RA, does not always manifest itself according to the 'rules', especially in
the beginning..

If you think, he thinks, that you have a bit of RA, you should pursue for an
accurate diagnosis. Maybe that was what your blood work was about.

I am relieved to finally be on the MTX now because my fear was that my hands
would be destroyed before they could finally get an accurate diagnosis of
the RA.

Jan - I was diagnosed with RA in 1995 and not one of my fingers or toes for
that matter are bent. I consider myself lucky to have been diagnosed at at
time when there are wonderful new biologic drugs to try to control the
damage from RA. I have been on Enbrel since it came out and although I don't
have total control, it's enough. I'm sure some of the spine damage is from
RA, well, I know it is. And the cortisone damage is worse than the RA
damage.  What did your RA doc suggest you do? Did he suggest you start on
one of the biologics like Enbrel, Humira, Remicade etc?

Oh, and I just had to laugh when he said a bit of RA -- it reminds me of
being a "little bit pregnant"  LOL Just made me laugh! Even a little bit of
RA needs proper control. Let us know!

Wishing you the best of luck with the outcome. I hope you find something
that works well for you.