“inflammation is now understood to be a key mediator of OA that contributes to cartilage loss and progressive degeneration of affected joints… OA is no longer considered a noninflammatory arthritis or a ‘wear and tear’ disease”
I heretofore thought age-related cartilage loss was the cause of osteoarthritis and inflammation. Turns out it’s the other way around: the inflammation degrades cartilage. Okay, no more slogging through joint pains for me, regardless of how small.
Edit: added a phrase for clarity
Here I am staring at my sausage-like thumb that’s been swollen like this for three days thanks to rheumatoid arthritis. This article gives good context for why RA often results in OA at a younger age. Maybe I will go take a prednisone and apply another dose of diclofenac to try to knock this inflammation down…
If you haven’t tried one yet, you might want to consider a elimination diet protocol for a few weeks. If your RA is exacerbated by some food compound it would reveal itself, and you could then plan your meals avoiding that.
I’ve seen lots of consistent anecdotes, and myself, diminishing joint pain and inflammation on a strict elimination diet.
There have been some good medications for RA created in the last decade or so. Has your rheumatologist prescribed anything longer term than prednisone? Prednisone is not really a long term safe solution.
Prednisone is my rescue medication for flares, not my normal treatment. Hence why I thought I might take it just today.
I’m on two meds, one that came out in 2019. I’ve been diagnosed for a year this month, and I have cycled through five or so drugs to finally land on a combo that actually controls the pain. The current inflammation is unlike what I’ve experienced regularly before, in that it is purely swelling with no pain, but I also have a reasonable theory as to the cause. I plan to bring it up at my next appointment regardless.
RA… oof. That shit is a curse*, a giant FU from the universe. I hope you get the relief/management you need. Tangential: does the prednisone get you all hyper?
*My aunt had it. In my pre-teens, my mother sent me to live with and care for her in final years (it wasn’t the RA that got her), so I deeply empathize with your health struggles.
Thankfully an RA diagnosis today is extremely different than one even 20 years ago, and I’ve only had it since the start of 2025. There are a lot of good options for meds, and there are some very promising long-term treatments on the horizon.
If actuarial tables estimate correctly, I’ll have around 40 years to live with this shit. My hope is for a cure before that happens (there has been enough advancement in autoimmune treatment even in just the last 5 years that it’s not a total pipe dream).
All that said, after spending most of 2025 with intolerable pain in my hands, I know if something prevents me from getting treatment long-term (like a societal collapse, not like pharmacy challenges), I expect I would find a way to …opt out. I was losing my mind until I found treatment that works (at least most of the time… this week is thankfully the exception now).
As for prednisone, I have extremely few side effects from it and no hyperactivity at all. I took it often from my diagnosis last May through this January. The first time was doses from 2.5–30 mg a day (normally 10–15) for most of 3 months straight. I had zero complaints while on it; however, upon stopping I was exhausted for about three days straight. Tired to the bone kind of feeling.
I ended up back on it for another 3 months, at or below 10 mg daily and I tapered more slowly, so the tiredness was much more manageable that time.
Like another commenter said, that’s a lot to expect of a pre-teen. I’m sorry you had to see that so young.
i think prednisone’s side effect is more apparent if you are on higher doses for longer periods of time, 80-100mg per day. i took it for 2 weeks for severe atopic dermatitis, dint cause any symptoms, since it was a taper too.
for RA, you should request biologic medications, theres a couple out for them already. Likewise with people with psoriasis/psoriatic arthiritis.
I started on biologics after diagnosis and they didn’t work for me. I am on a daily JAK inhibitor and a twice-daily NSAID and that has my pain controlled. The current swelling is something new, and is not painful.
The long-term prednisone use was to help me manage the pain while seeing if a biologic would work. It helped, but I still had to take ~15 mg of prednisone a day or I was in debilitating pain.
I imagine this to be no easy task for anyone, especially a pre-teen.
No rheumatoid arthritis here but took Prednisone for an issue I had for a few weeks and I did not notice any sort of hyperactivity. And most others I talked to did not either although several did.