What Is Remission Of Rheumatoid Arthritis And Can I Do Anything To Make Sure My Symptoms Don't Come Back?

— -- Question: What is remission of rheumatoid arthritis and can I do anything to make sure my symptoms don't come back?

Answer: Remission, as I'm just discussing, is where your joint symptoms go away and your x-rays are not getting worse. That is the ultimate goal in treating rheumatoid arthritis. What you can do is really partner with your doctor to live healthy, be healthy, take care of yourself, and then take the medications as prescribed by your rheumatologist.

Many times the rheumatoid arthritis will continue, and if you take medications we're attempting to, you know, put you in remission, but we also want to go for a benefit, and there's a whole spectrum. Ultimately we want to achieve remission, but if we can get a 70 percent improvement, we're very happy.

Newer treatments that are on the horizon may actually put more people into remission and we're studying them, but we are very concerned about safety with these agents and thus you really need to work with your rheumatologist to decide which medications are right for you.

Next: How Can Exercise Be Used To Treat Osteoarthritis, And Are Certain Types Of Exercises Better Than Others?

Previous: What Is The American College Of Rheumatology (ACR) Scoring System For Rheumatoid Arthritis And How Does It Work?