Rheumatoid Arthritis Q & A

I have RA for 10 yrs and have just been diagnosed with having seropositive RA what is this and what does it mean.

When me and my husband want to start our family, how will my rheumatoid arthritis affect my pregnancies would you recommend to adopt or would it be ok to try and have them ourselves?

I am 42 yrs old and I woke up one morning 2 years ago and could not bend my fingers and my ankles, it only lasted a few minutes and never longer but also developed pericarditis..there is debate among my doctors whether or not I have sero-negative RA. I have been treated with Methotrexate and Humira (1 yr), but the symptoms always came back (only in fingers though) and then they would increase my methotrexate again and I’d be fine only to have symptoms in hands come back. I went off Metho due to side effects and then during an illness stopped the Humira… I have not taken any medicine for 9 weeks and feel the same as when I was on all the meds and no worse…My doctor wants me back on Humira but I feel that if I my symptoms are no worse off the drugs than on and my sed rate is staying between 17 to 21 and 2 years later still no antibodies or RF that I maybe be able to stay off medicine and not experiance joint damage? Do severity of symptoms correlate with disease activity (specifically joint damage)? meaning less symptoms less damage and visa versa.

My RA is not under control yet. I am taking NSAID, Prednisone, and MTX. I know when I am going to flare. I flare every three months without fail. A few days before I get realy bad I get tired and the pain increases every day. Since I know when I am going to flare is there any thing that I can do to prevent the flare from happening or atleast reduce the amount of pain and swelling? I was thinking about increasing the Prednisone and get alot more rest. Any ideas?

Can i take birth control pills as a form of contraceptive if i am on methotrexate?

I have been taking Prednisone, Methotrexate and NSAID for my RA. Last week my doctor added Plaquenil. I know that it could take up to months to work. But I didn’t think that it would make me worse. Ever since I start taking Plaquenil I have been geeting alot more pain, stiffness and swelling. The dose or nothing has change with the meds that I was already on. Does this make any since to you?