just one question and...........

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johnnyliverpool1

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.......one question only.....most of us have had a spinal tap, looking for signs of ms...now, does and could, a spinal tap also show any possible rheumatoid arthritis involvement.....there we are , a simple question from a simple man.....johnny
 
Johnny...I checked online. Arthritis is not on he list of conditions identified by way of spinal tap.

But if you have syphillis, it'll be found.


Purpose
Lumbar puncture, or spinal tap, is used to diagnose some malignancies, such as certain types of brain cancer and leukemia, as well as other medical conditions that affect the central nervous system. It is also used for injecting chemotherapy directly into the CSF. This type of treatment is called intrathecal therapy. Other medical conditions diagnosed with lumbar puncture include:

viral and bacterial meningitis
syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease
bleeding (hemorrhaging) around the brain and spinal cord
multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects the myelin coating of the nerve fibers of the brain and spinal cord
Guillain-Barré syndrome, an inflammation of the nerves





When are you having it?
 
No from what I have read and talking to my friend who has ra it is tested for through blood and xray. My friend has never had a spinal tap. Is that what they want to do to you?
 
Johnny... My informative reply went to mod land!
 
when they have done spinal taps on me they have checked for rheumitoid too through that. It is not commonly checked that way though, but supposidly it RA factor or something can show up in the spinal fluid too. Maybe its inflamed cells or something. I forget exactly what the test said. But on mine it said I was negative for whatever it was they measured for RA. I did have 2 bands or whatnot that they count for MS to be positive, but they said 3+ bands are counted for MS. If the RA doc is wanting a spinal tap, might be they want to screen for MS too. Otherwise its usually like Elaine mentioned, bloodwork and xrays.
 
sorry girls ive misled you slightly...i had my spinal tap a few years ago..ms clear ....my thinking was. did they check for rheumatoid stuff and if they did i was obviously clear.....so my recent blood works showing the factor stuff would be recent onset if confirmed......and if iwas not checked for rhumatoid at the time..why not......given that i was in the middle of the diagnosed by exclusion......hope you follow what i am saying here cos am not sure i am...am seeing the rheummy on tuesday but al probably forget to ask anything cos my mind wanders off on a tangent,,,,,,,seeing that ms and rhummy are both autoimmune things then they must have checked while they were at it.......but i do have one more question and one more only....does rheumatoid arthritis cause umn syndrome sometimes...ta ta for now, johnny......
 
Johnny--as I said on another post...RA mostly causes deformity to the joints--and it's symmetrical. If it's the ring finger on the left hand--the same finger will be affected on the right. Wrist, elbow, ankle--whichever joints it effects.

According to my sister with RA--no it doesn't affect her with UMN problems like spasticity and such... It's a disease that attacks the joints and can affect other organs as well.

My grandmother had joints replaced in her hands from it--an aunt did as well. I was tested because of two deformed fingers--but tested negative.

It might help if you posted what tests they did to confirm this RA--an RA factor being positive isn't enough--as other auto-immune conditions can cause a positive RA result. The result must be VERY high and there are several other blood tests that can confirm that diagnosis--along with x-rays.

Below is the diagnostic criteria:

Diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the early stages can be difficult. There is no single test that can clearly identify rheumatoid arthritis. Instead, doctors diagnose rheumatoid arthritis based on factors that are strongly associated with the disease. The American College of Rheumatology uses this list of criteria:

1. Morning stiffness in and around the joints for at least one hour.
2. Swelling or fluid around three or more joints simultaneously.
3. At least one swollen area in the wrist, hand, or finger joints.
4. Arthritis involving the same joint on both sides of the body (symmetric arthritis).
5. Rheumatoid nodules, which are firm lumps in the skin of people with rheumatoid arthritis. These nodules are usually in pressure points of the body, most commonly the elbows.
6. Abnormal amounts of rheumatoid factor in the blood.
7. X-ray changes in the hands and wrists typical of rheumatoid arthritis, with destruction of bone around the involved joints. However, these changes are typical of later-stage disease.

Rheumatoid arthritis is officially diagnosed if four or more of these seven factors are present. The first four factors must have been present for at least six weeks. More recently, guidelines have changed somewhat in an attempt to diagnose RA in its earlier stages.


Stiffness is in the joints themselves in RA-- not so much the muscles. Do you have the swollen joints and morning stiffness in your joints?
 
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thanks not me.....very much.......judging by the criteria above there is no way i got rheumatoid arthritis......according to my doc it showed in my blood ....gonna be interesting when i see rheummy on tuesday....johnny
 
were you being a tad cheeky there, ottawa..naughty....
 
Rehumatoid arthritis would not cause spasticity or have anything to do with it.

I had an accident aged 10yrs ,broke/disclocated my elbow. I had xrays but they said it was fine though even at that age i knew by the pain it was not and something was wrong.
For years my mum took me to gp as i complained about pain and it was looking odd,they just kept saying it was growing pains.
Then aged 16yrs they descided to do another xray and guess what.............it was broken and origional xrays showed that.
It was too badly damaged to operate,said i would loose use of arm and i also had developed rehumatoid arthritis in it.
I was on beurofen for years but stopped as it effects stomach.

Point of my story...........some years ago i started developing spasms in arms and hands.
One day my bad arm hurt real bad from shoulder to fingers,i kept rubbing burefen gel into it but it just got worse........i could not remember knocking it or anything so could not understand why.
Next day my right arm started the same and i knew then it was spasticity..........i proceeded to spend weeks unable to reach up or out,my arms were glued to my side.
That when the shoulder pain started and its been there ever since.

I have persistant twitching in my left hand(the bad arm)it has atrophy in palm and at base of thumb but i know its not a lmn thing probably caused by nerves compressed in my elbow.
Maybe should have got it checked out but if its on its way out so be it.

We can not put everything/symptom down to pls/als......we can get other things at the same time.
Johnny given your ahhemm! age its obvious your going to get a bit of arthritis as well as your umn issues.
 
Johnny

I'd ask when you go... about a complete auto-immune panel, including a sed-rate and the other specialized bloodtest that's just for RA ( can't remember the name but will look for it if you want me to--and it's not just the RA Factor test you had)

Did they do an ANA?

Is it just (and I know "just" is a light word for what you live with) the PLS stuff that made them suggest RA? Was it just the blood levels or a new issue you were having?

There are so many auto-immune disorders out there--the one that affects muscles (with pain) is mixed connective tissue disease and undifferentiated connective tissue disease. Auto-immune--though I don't remember the tests for it. It was on my differential way back when all this crap started years and years ago as my ANA was positive but my symptoms were largely muscle-related. (I never heard of PLS til I came here ) It is in the Rheumatoid family of diseases, I believe.

My point is they may have jumped on RA too soon.

So--in essence the question is: Are you having joint issues like are required for RA or did they diagnose it primarily on the blood test?
 
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thanks gang..very much.......i know i have osteo arthritis from my sporting days ,,werethis rheummy come from was a blood test i had at the time of my ..big head..post......still i dont fit the rheummy symptoms so this is probably a red herring...at least am more savvy now than i was in my neurological days....so i can ask the right questions....johnny
 
well flippin eck......got upat six am ready for my appoimtment with RA ologist at 10..30 am..had a shower, shave and sh.. ad me best clobber on and drove off for my 45 minute trip to hospital..handed in my pee sample as requested...very ameniable chap was this rheummyologist....better than the neurologists i know cos he had a sense of humour......he said, mr liverpool you dont have rheumatoid anything..i said i know cos ollie, notme,ackers, ottowa and vicim told me i aint....straight away he new he was dealing with knowledge....this will make you laugh...he said, after a number of blood tests, in two of them it showed RA....but because the blood tests are so good these days they were a false reading ....took a look at my hands..notice the nicotine and said no swelling no nodules......thats it....i picked up me sample and drove home............johnny
 
Well good! Still, Johnny--there ARE some other Auto immune things the tests could have picked up. Please let them find out what if anything made the tests positive.

I didn't think it was RA--but it COULD be something in the family that's not 'visible' -- or hell-- even be the cause of what they think is PLS and TREAT ABLE.
 
off to mod-land. Musta said another bad word
 
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