“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
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.