As I've mentioned in a few places on this forum, I've been dealing with RA for the past few years. More recently, things got bad really fast, which prompted me to run out and get tested so I could get treatment. Looking back, it was the feeling of weakness and helplessness that contributed to the weight gain and also to the need to reduce. So while RA and weight loss go hand-in-hand for me, I'm not sure this is the best place to post about such a serious, health-related topic.

So, whaddya think? Enough of us here to start up a new thread? OR...what RA-related forums have YOU found helpful?

Hello. My name is Tammy. I was recently diagnosed with Adult Onset Stills Disease and Ankylosing Spondulitis. I too have gone down hill quickly this year. My life has completely change, and in a bad way. The pain is so bad most days that just staying awake is almost unbearable. The Stills causes fever and many other issues as well. I am on Prednisone and have been for months. I am going back to the doctor on the tenth to talk about biologics and stuff. Do you want to start a forum. Stills is a very rare form of Arthritis but the pain is a common ground. I really want to share info with people, get support, and so forth. Let me know.

There have been a lot of severe chronic illness threads in this forum, some for specific illnesses, others more generic.

I have fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and one or more autoimmune conditions that might include RA. Basically most AI disorders are identified by the pattern and degree of bodily damage they do, and mine hasn't caused a clear enough pattern or degree of damage to warrant a name. We do know it's attacking my joints, skin, and respiratory systems, but until there's more damage it won't get a name. My doctors tell me that if I'm lucky, I'll never get a diagnosis.

I was diagonsed with RA a year ago. I also have a hard time losing??? Why I dont understans. My insurance does not cover very much of treatmeant with the specialist so waiting to see if I get a job with the state. I have been having horrible trouble with my big toe lately and when I looked it up it said gout.... Im in the same boat.

Oh drat, I lost my post. Well, a short one is this : diagnosed with RA a year ago right before hubby lost his job, so we lost insurance, hence no RA treatment. New job in a new state, and Monday is my first appt with a new rheumy. I am anxiously awaiting treatment, because I've reached the point where I have a hard time walking even with a cane, and my feet, knees,and hands are crapped out. I really hope whatever meds he starts me on will begin to help fairly quickly.

I just started twice weekly water exercise classes geared toward folk with RA, and hope that will also be helpful. When I feel stronger, I can go thrice weekly.And I just started tracking calories and so on on the My Fitness Pal site, although I really don't know how many calories I ought to shoot for to lose weight but not drop so low I screw up my metabolism even more than it is. (I have T2 diabetes and Hashimoto's hypothyroid disease.) For now, at 245 pounds and fairly sedentary, I am going for 1500 calories.

My highest weight, back in January or so, was 265. So I'm glad to have at least dropped 20 pounds, slowly.

The flares are the worst. Livong with constant pain sucks. I push myself to much just because i get scared of not moving...idk if that makes sense. I know one thing that help is water. Not just 64 oz but 110 to 120 oz. I feel so much better with a lot of fluid.

Do you use the pills or the injections for the methotrexate? I had polymyalgia rheumatica back just before I was diagnosed with RA -- was treated for it for two years with prednisone, and near the end, the doc had me doing methotrexate injections too, to try to allow me to decrease the prednisone. I didn't seem to have any bad reactions to the injections, so I'm hoping that means it will be the same if that's the route the new guy chooses for the RA. I'm not familiar with the other med you mentioned. Will have to look into it, so I know what you're talkin' about.

I bought a supplement that is supposed to help fight inflammation. I think it is called Zyflamend. Just got it, haven't tried it yet, but I believe turmeric (and ginger, maybe?) are two of the key ingredients. I thought I'd take it with me when I go to the rheumatologist tomorrow and see if he thinks it might help in addition to meds.

Losing weight is a struggle for me at the best of times. I can lose to a certain point, then I seem to just stick. Sadly, that sticking point is still waaaay over my ideal weight, blast it all. Heh. I think having such limited mobility now is a bugger when it comes to burning off weight, and the fact that I'm nearly 55 years old and will be through menopause any day now (lol) makes it even tougher. But surely our bodies burn just a *little* hotter, what with the inflammation and the low grade fevers? I'm grasping at straws looking for the silver lining here.

HI ladies!

Wanted to bring this back up to the top. I also have RA, in addition to Fibromyalgia and hypothyroidism. I am running out for an appointment, but saw this and wanted to let you know there are more of us out there. I also just got some great information from my Rheum that I will share when I get back later.

Will do formal introductions and get to know everyone in a little bit.

Kat

Hi there SeeMyFeet!

I had been trying for 7 years or so to manage without any medication because of all of the side effects I heard about some. When my RA factor first came back elevated I went to a Rheum and she wanted to start me on Embrel injections immediately - I thought that was a rather extreme response. She refused to consider any other types of treatment, so I am thinking she was getting kickbacks from that pharmaceutical company.

I did really well on a protein based diet program and lost a lot of weight and removed all the food allergens that I was eating. It helped a little with energy, but not pain. I am now on my first-round meds as well. Taking Plaquenil and prednisone last week to start and will go from there.

I use clove essential oil mixed with a little almond or jojoba oil and while it is very fragrant, it is a fantastic topical pain reliever and anti-inflammatory.

How are you feeling these days?

I have had Ankylosing Spondulitis for nearly 25 years. Have to walk every day or else it flares up. Long hot showers are great especially on bad days. Standard painkillers such as paracetamol are great for occasional relief on bad days. I can't sit in an office chair so always have had manual jobs. Important to keep moving or else the body seizes up. Even a lazy one day off can cause painful inflammation

I have had RA for a little over a year now. I was diagnosed in February 2015. I am on MTX and Plaquenil and have been doing pretty good. I have put on about 20 lbs. in the last year mostly due to eating wrong and not working out. I have recently begun to walk a few miles on my treadmill 3-4 times a week. I used to do the Leslie Sansone DVD's but got bored with them. I'm currently looking for other workout DVD's that are not too high impact for my joints.

I was diagnosed with RA in October of 2011. It has been a special kind of ****, back and forth with meds, pain all the time, fatigue, it's just crazy!! I have finally found a good Rheumatologist and we found a medicine combo that works. Doc said that I can start slowly weaning off the prednisone, I am super excited about that, between the pred and the xeljanz that I was on I gained 35lbs in 2-3 months and it has been slow coming off. I was able to start working out again in Jan, I started on the 23rd along with calorie counting and meal planning I have lost about 13lbs so far and that's huge for me since in the past it took me a month to lose 2lbs!!! I don't do anything too crazy I have been doing Walk Away The Pounds with Leslie Sansone. I started at the 1 mile and was able to move to the 2 mile after about 2 weeks. Stayed on the 2 mile for about a month and I just moved to the 3 mile. It is A LOT harder than the 2 mile!! But it's low impact and not too hard on my joints and still burns quite a bit of calories for me at least.

I have been on so many meds, right now I am on Humira and Arava 20mg with 10mg of prednisone. Stepping down to 7.5mg of pred. I have been on methotrexate, plaquenil, enbrel, xeljanz and they either didn't work or they stopped working after a short time. Hope your current combo keeps working, the Humira worked well on it's own but once we added Arava it was a complete change, I almost feel human again!

Hi everyone, I'm new here 😊. I live in BC, Canada. I was Dx with RA in 2012 (when I was 30) and have gained 40 lbs in the last few years. I've been able to maintain active most of the time (with great effort) and eating healthy... So I'm thinking it's medication that is making weight loss impossible. I'm desperate to get my extra weight off. I ordered some weight loss coffee and beverage mixes that arrived in the post today. So I'll start that tomorrow. Fingers crossed it will help. Has anyone else tried those types of things? Not sure what else to do at this point.