Osteoarthritis & Rheumatoid

Aud23
Aud23 Member Posts: 5
edited 28. Nov 2023, 14:07 in Living with arthritis

Hi I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 31 I was put onto methotrexate and it helped, and actually was in remission for 10 years however I’m now 51 and over the last 2 years it has came back with vengeance. So I see my rheumatologist every 6 months and in the last year she put me on the injection for methotrexate which is better for me. So now a year later im getting pain popping up everywhere and I have just seen my rheumatologist who has now told me I have osteoarthritis but doesn’t seem too fussed about it and has just referred me onto orthopaedics, so my question is that does anyone else have both and if so how do you deal with the pain??

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  • YvonneH
    YvonneH Member Posts: 1,075

    Hi @Aud23

    welcome to the Online Community, it’s great to have you here.

    You have had rheumatoid arthritis for a while now but lately it’s getting worse. At one of your rheum visits lately you were told you also have osteoarthritis.

    It is common to have both RA and OA, neither one means you will get the other though as they have different reasons for affecting your joints. Your GP will be looking after you re OA but still your rheumy for the RA. It can be difficult to work out which disease is causing which symptoms, the blood test that your rheumy does will show how well controlled your RA is, but some people are well controlled and still have pain. Your GP might use x-rays to assess how damaged your joints are, again sadly pain can be severe for some with mild OA

    Heres our information on OA and pain relief.

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis/
    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/managing-your-pain/

    I have widespread OA and have pain in many joints and have found pacing - managing what/how much I do is really useful. When I started that I kept a pain/activity diary to work out what I could and couldn’t do. If you have any specific areas of pain let us know and the members will be able to say what worked for them. Remember you’re not alone, and all problems can be fixed or adapted to (I think!) keep posting

    Yvonne x

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