I went to the rheumatologist the other day for a check in to see how the addition of methotrexate was working along with my Humira. I have been noticing over the past month or so that stiffness and pain in my spine was waking me up at night and in the morning my spine would stay stiff for hours. Something that I have never experienced before, it starts in the spine in between my shoulder blades and goes up into my neck. I constantly feel like I need to "crack" and rotate during the day and when I do it sounds like rice crispies. I brought this up to my rheumatologist and asked if one can get be affected by RA in the spine. He said it was pretty rare but agreed to be on the safe side and ordered some xrays. The very next day I got a call from the doctor's office telling me that I do indeed have been affected by RA in my cervical spine, right now it is mild but I can't lie, I'm a bit nervous. The night of my xrays I decided to research RA in cervical spine and the results were not pretty. It can stay mild or it can progress. When it progresses it compresses on nerves, it can lead to black outs, incontinence, paralysis and sudden death. Luckily for me we caught it, we know it is there so we can keep an eye on it. If and when my cervical spine becomes unstable there is the option (well to me its not an option see death is the other and I don't consider that an option) to have surgery to stabilize the spine. Yes there will be limited movement and other side effects from surgery but it is better than dead I say.
If you would like more information on RA in C Spine please click on one of the links.
http://www.uscspine.com/conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis.cfm
http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/content/45/10/1183.long
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