Anyone else dx with RA since ending treatment?

[Cal-Gal]

I was just diagnosed with RA, obviously quite concerned to now be told that my immune system is shot, other than that had been doing well (with the bc, nda) with exception of except the fatigue and joint pain of this, wondering if anyone else has been dx with RA after ending treatment?
Hugs to all,

[Bunty]

Hi Cal Gal, what's RA?
Cheers Marie

[Jackie07]

Found an old thread on Rheumatoid Arthritis:

http://her2support.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=115225&highlight=rhumatoid+arthritis#post115225

[Jackie07]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23750028

[Jackie07]

'Possible association of gynecological cancer and Rheumatoid Arthritis':

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22826971

[Cal-Gal]

Hello Marie

Rheumatoid Arthritis, thanks Jackie for all the links.

[roz123]

cal-gal - how do they test for RA? my joints are killing me more than usual these days. Im not sure if its because they are shutting down my ovaries using Lupron - it is way worse than before Lupron. My bones in my feet, hands, neck are so sore
how were you feeling before diagnosed?

['lizbeth]

http://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/default.htm

Arthritis is a general term that means inflammation in a joint. Joint inflammation is characterized by redness, warmth, swelling, and pain within the joint.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a type of chronic arthritis that typically occurs in joints on both sides of the body (such as hands, wrists, or knees). This symmetry helps distinguish rheumatoid arthritis from other types of arthritis.
In addition to affecting the joints, rheumatoid arthritis may occasionally affect the skin, eyes, lungs, heart, blood, or nerves.

[StephN]

Hi -
I did have some joint problems after my second go round and having to take Navelbine plus Taxol.
My neurologist put me through a battery of tests and came up with a diagnosis of " unspecified connective tissue disorder."
I was put on 5mg prednisone for two weeks to see if my swelling would improve. It did. I also was prescribed hydroxychlorquine (Plaquenil), which is widely used in patients for SLE or lupus, arthritis and various other inflammatory problems.

After a couple of years, my system became strong enough that I could cut down on the Plaquenil and not have the swelling of joints or connective tissues.

[Lani]

one theory of how chemo works in breast cancer is by decreasing the number of T regulatory cells so that the cancer cannot evade the immune system so well (there are a lot of more gentle ways to do the same thing, so I would hope they would be able to use less and less chemo if this turns out to be one of the main things chemo does besides causing early menopause)

A side effect of decreasing T regulatory cells is increasing the chances of autoimmune diseases such as RA, lupus, etc

THis may all be involved when they work things out.

Could you please add this to the thread...please list side effects of herceptin, real or imagined (of course it may not be the herceptin, which is why it is best to list all the drug you were on). May help researchers in the future tie all of this together...

Thanks!

[StephN]

Just wanted to add that I remained on Herceptin on the three weekly dose for several more years during which my joint problems slowly resolved.

Thus, in my case, I do not think the joint problems were caused by the Herceptin. Being hormone negative, I did not take Tamox or any other hormone suppressant. Only the hard chemos.