First: They’re not generic drugs. Well, not really.
It’s not surprising that you can feel arthritis in your feet: The disease predominantly affects your joints, and your foot contains more than 30 of them.
By Dibs Baer
Follow this advice to set sail without pain, stress, or anxiety (or at least a lot less of it).
The sharp pain during a gout flare can usually help distinguish the two.
By Tina Donvito
Some people living with arthritis have found their symptoms lessen when wearing these special gloves. Here’s how they work.
Say hello to your new best friend: the heated mattress pad.
By CreakyStaff
There’s no burn with this version, patients report.
When two autoimmune conditions share similar symptoms — as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) do — diagnosing them can be challenging.
It has to do with one word: inflammation.
Canceling plans to take care of yourself can be one of the hardest parts about coping with a chronic disease like arthritis. These tips can make it easier.
Furbabies can reduce stress, stave off loneliness, and provide physical activity, but caring for them when you have arthritis can be challenging. Here’s how to make it easier.
Inflammatory arthritis raises your heart disease risk. Here’s how doctors say you can protect your ticker.
People who take Enbrel (etanercept) for inflammatory arthritis know that it can be incredibly expensive. But in recent years, some “biosimilar” options — which are considered comparable to the original medication yet have the potential to be far less expensive...
A new study found that methotrexate didn’t reduce the risk of heart attacks in people without arthritis.
Your life is about to get *way* easier.
Bring on the sweet relief.
When diagnosing and treating RA, blood tests aren’t everything.
The guidelines address tailoring recommendations for people with inflammatory arthritis and advise when to use medications beyond statins.
This newer class of medications are becoming prescribed more often.
By CreakyStaff
Knowing the difference will dramatically affect your back pain treatment.
Number one: You need the flu shot — full stop Less than half of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis get vaccinated for influenza, according to a recent study. But when you have inflammatory arthritis, your risk of...
By Tina Donvito
By CreakyStaff
Are you an arthritis patient, or a person living with arthritis? A lupus patient, or a consumer of health care who has lupus? The word “patient” has taken on a negative connotation in the medical community over the past couple...
If you had chickenpox as a child, you likely remember those itchy bumps and tiny blisters that turned into scabs you weren’t supposed to pick (but did anyway). That very same virus that gave you childhood chickenpox also causes shingles...
There’s a strong connection between arthritis and depression, but this advice can help protect your mental health.
Let’s be direct: Living with arthritis can sometimes get depressing. Chronic pain and fatigue can impact everything from your work and hobbies to being able to capably wipe your own bum in the bathroom. Arthritis can also make your anxiety...
By CreakyStaff
Do you need to cut out drinking when you start MTX? Here's what the latest thinking says.
By CreakyStaff
These drugs are commonly used to treat arthritis flares, but you need to know about their side effects.
By Tina Donvito
If you feel like you get sick more than other people, you’re right, because inflammatory arthritis can up your chances. Here’s what you can do.
Painful and stiff joints, weak muscles, or bouts of fatigue can make work feel impossible some days. These tips can help.
Could a lack of health insurance coverage of back pain remedies be contributing to the opioid crisis?
A new study found a possible connection between checkpoint inhibitor drugs and rheumatological conditions.
The holiday season can really wipe you out when you're already experiencing fatigue from arthritis. Try this advice to restore your energy.
If someone’s nagging you to stop your knuckle cracking, show them this.
Many are simple enough to start and keep going when you’re not feeling your best.
While OA and inflammatory arthritis do share some symptoms — namely pain, tenderness, and swelling — the similarities tend to end there.
CBD oil. Handicapped parking permits. A genius wedding ring hack. It took these patients years to learn all these tips and tricks, but you might as well steal their advice now.
'Treat to target' means your doctor should set a specific goal for you and treat you as intensely as needed to make that goal happen.
Crowd-sourced websites may not be the most reliable sources of information about how to pick the best hospital because they leave out this key data.
Many RA patients are supposed to take methotrexate once a week but often miss a dose. A weekly reminder via text message could make all the difference.
By Tina Donvito
Try these during Thanksgiving meal prep.
By Dibs Baer
A very wise young woman once told me, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Her name was… Kelly Clarkson. And I heard the song on the radio and, fine, she wasn’t singing only to me. But for me, and...
RA studies aren't usually designed in a way that makes the results easily translatable to regular patients, according to a recent analysis of almost 100 clinical trials.
It’s understandable that inflammatory arthritis can interfere with your sexual health, but it doesn’t mean that aspect of your life is has to stay negative or challenged forever.
Learn what brain fog feels like in people living with inflammatory arthritis. Plus, get tips on what you can do to sharpen your thinking.
By CreakyStaff
In 2016, Los Angeles-based fashion designer Michael Kuluva did a remarkable thing at New York Fashion Week. He used the event as a platform to publicly share his journey as a patient living with rheumatoid arthritis, designing his clothing line...
By CreakyStaff
But many patients confess that the emotional aspects of chronic illness are the hardest to get used to.
By CreakyStaff
Attending a wedding or other special event when you have a chronic illness like inflammatory arthritis has a unique set of challenges.
By CreakyStaff
Last week Lucy Trieshmann left a doctor’s office feeling particularly disheartened. “I was in a lot of pain and didn’t think I’d been given any recourse, which was super upsetting,” she says. So she went home and shared the following...
By CreakyStaff
Minimizing your symptoms with your doctor can get in the way of your care and treatment.
By CreakyStaff
Nobody wants to go through an arthritis flare. The symptoms may feel a lot like you did when you were first diagnosed and your disease wasn’t well controlled. “A rheumatoid arthritis flare is an acute activation of the immune system,...
By CreakyStaff
Catherine King, 28, only started sharing her chronic illness journey on Instagram in 2017, but she already has more than 18,000 followers on her @meme_the_sick_away account. They connect with the multiple daily memes and posts she shares about dealing with...
Putting on a blouse, zipping up trousers, tying a shoelace: It’s the kind of stuff you do every day without a second thought. That is, until pushing a button through a hole hurts your fingers unbearably and grabbing a zipper...
By CreakyStaff
It took just a random encounter with a trainer at Patty Deters’ local Gold’s Gym to basically change her whole life. https://www.instagram.com/p/BmwD3cblisu/?taken-by=pattysfitnessjourney It was January 2016 and Deters, now 56, was determined to lose the weight she’d gained after being...
By CreakyStaff
The internet abounds with claims that this or that kitchen staple or household remedy can magically cure or improve your health. A May 2018 article published in Journal of the American College of Nutrition suggests that it’s no urban myth...
By CreakyStaff
Rheumatoid arthritis patients should take a few things away from research that Daniel Solomon presented on July 14 at the annual meeting of the Florida Society of Rheumatology in Orlando, the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s physician told...
By CreakyStaff
Ah, Summertime. The season of baseball, days at the beach, muggy nights, and backyard barbecues galore. Many people look forward to this time of year, and curse the winter with its snow and cold. For me, though, Summer means one...
By CreakyStaff
Researchers found an association between obesity and less effectiveness of tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi).
By J.G Chayko
May is almost over, and what did I do for arthritis awareness? I lived.
By CreakyStaff
Extended study reinforces the importance of early interventions for rheumatoid arthritis.
By CreakyStaff
A nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) previously thought to carry heart attack risk is no likelier to do so than are naproxen (Aleve) and ibuprofen (Advil). That’s what a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel said recently about celecoxib (Celebrex), coming...
By CreakyStaff
The disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug methotrexate, the first line of defense against rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, is administered as a weekly pill or a shot. Many patients find it helps keep their symptoms under control for years, but up to a quarter...
By Cheryl Crow
There is no finish line. You won’t walk out of the operating room in a moment of triumph saying, “We got it! She’s better now.”
By CreakyStaff
If your physician has hugged you, how did you feel about that, both in the moment and with the benefit of hindsight?
Usually a person has SPD their whole life, but it can also be triggered by diseases like fibromyalgia.
By CreakyStaff
Imagine working at a job that doesn’t allow you to take a rest. There is no vacation when you’re chronically ill.
By CreakyStaff
Asking your doctor is among the best ways to find out about new treatments and clinical trials.
By CreakyStaff
Hearing that my lab work is normal does not mean that my rheumatoid arthritis is not active. If I don’t feel fine, I’m not fine.
By CreakyStaff
The introduction of biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs are associated with a decrease in total knee replacements among RA patients.
By J.G Chayko
The pain of RA prevented me from executing the strenuous moves of ballet, and my joints couldn’t bear the pressure of the polished floor beneath my feet.
By CreakyStaff
On its face, it seems like a pretty simple question. Can and should patients record their meetings with their physicians?
New research shows that rheumatoid arthritis patients benefit from participating in personalized, digital health coaching.
By CreakyStaff
Rheumatoid arthritis patients who take opioids or antidepressants are likelier to fracture their bones, according to research presented at the 2017 American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in San Diego.
By CreakyStaff
“The results of this preliminary study may help rheumatologists to differentiate RA patients who would successfully down-titrate biologics”
By CreakyStaff
Arthritis patients can lower their medical costs and decrease delays by using a new online consultation tool, Chinese researchers reported at the 2017 American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in San Diego.
By CreakyStaff
Tips and solutions for common problems patients face with their healthcare providers.
When you get involved in various communities you start to understand that you aren’t alone in your fight, and that there are people there going through the same things as you.
By CreakyStaff
Here are ten things we learned from the CreakyJoints community on World Arthritis Day.
By CreakyStaff
Treat-to-target, evidence-based guidelines recommend that rheumatoid arthritis patients be monitored regularly for disease activity.
By CreakyStaff
Sadly, joy is a feeling that often gets lost in the shuffle of living with a chronic illness.
By CreakyStaff
Men who work in bricklaying, concrete, material handling, and electronics, and women who are nursing assistants and attendants may be at higher risk for rheumatoid arthritis, per a recent study in Arthritis Care & Research. Lead author Anna Ilar, an...
By CreakyStaff
Patients with longstanding rheumatoid arthritis, called refractory, who had been treated with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFis), saw improvements after a year of taking rituximab (Rituxan). That’s according to an analysis from the Corrona RA registry, which was published in...
By CreakyStaff
T’ai chi, the ancient Chinese philosophy centering on the union of the yin (passive) and yang (active) often practiced today as a yoga-like exercise, has been known to be a gentle way to fight stress. A meta analysis culled from...
By CreakyStaff
On July 27, German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim announced it had enrolled the first patient in a study intended to demonstrate that a biosimilar is interchangeable with Humira (adalimumab) for treating patients with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis. Ivan Blanarik, Boehringer Ingelheim’s...
By CreakyStaff
Katie Golden, a professional patient, writer, and advocate shares with us a job posting that feels all too familiar. Imagine how it would be for people with chronic disease if our primary focus was feeling better and not having to...
By CreakyStaff
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug guselkumab (tremfya) to treat moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, announced Janssen Biotech, part of Johnson & Johnson, in a release. The drug is “the first and only approved biologic therapy that selectively blocks...
By CreakyStaff
There is no loss of increasingly available smart home devices. Smart home devices are defined as technology that securely works with your home WiFi to control everyday household items. Since many of us spend a lot of time in pain at...
By CreakyStaff
On Monday July 10th we hosted our first 24 hour #CreakyChats via Twitter. This chat covered a wide variety of topics with the focus being on sharing our chronic disease pro-tips. Throughout this chat, over 100 members of the CreakyJoints...
By CreakyStaff
How do you describe something that isn’t tangible or heavily studied? Many people grapple with this when trying to explain to a friend or loved one a common issue for people with chronic disease, brain fog. This often strange and deliberating...
By CreakyStaff
Writing with the hindsight’s benefit in “What I Wish I’d Known About My Knees” in the New York Times, Jane Brody laments the cost, pain, and effort she expended to avoid knee replacement. “Many of the procedures people undergo to...
By CreakyStaff
Focused ultrasound (FUS) operates by an analogous principle to “using a magnifying glass to focus beams of sunlight on a single point to burn a hole in a leaf,” notes the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. “With focused ultrasound, an acoustic lens...
By CreakyStaff
White went into the first meeting with a “great deal of skepticism,” expecting “New Age-y” nonsense. Instead, he found practical advice, ranging from how to lift heavy objects with his legs, rather than his back, and how to process childhood traumas.
By CreakyStaff
Copayment Assistance programs, such as copay cards or “discount cards”, are offered by drug manufacturers (the companies that make your drugs) to lower the high costs charged by insurance companies for non-preferred drugs.
By CreakyStaff
What has living with a chronic disease taught us? Here are some of the lessons shared by the CreakyJoints community.
By J.G Chayko
I didn’t set out to be an advocate of anything. All I wanted was to live life on my own terms.
By CreakyStaff
Many of the patients that Michael George and his colleagues at Penn Medicine see in their Philadelphia clinic elect to get surgery at some point. Common procedures for older patients are hip and knee replacements, and those surgeries are even...
By CreakyStaff
Dr. David O’Reilly a friendly rheumatologist from the UK recently published some facts about gout. Read below to learn more. Gout is common. 2 million Americans suffer from gout. Gout is caused by uric acid. Uric acid is produced when our...
By CreakyStaff
Rheumatoid arthritis has taken much from me over the last few years. As my disease has taken hold and progressed, there are changes I’ve had to make. Adjustments I’ve needed. Choices taken away from me. The first was selling the...
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