I have RA in my ankles, hands and a knee, but I never considered it would flare up in my toes. Am going to the doctor this week to find out. (Sigh)

You and anyone that is interested need to do some study about RA as it can flare up any where in the body. Some of the internal organs of the body can be infected because they too have similar tissues. People are seem to have forgotten how it used to effect people that had it and only see the doctor if there are flare ups. It is something that needs to be managed. IF anyone has it they should make certain that any children they have are aware that they have a greater chance of developing it some time in their life. For some the symptoms are mild and could be dismissed by their doctor unless the doctor is aware of their family history.

Update: My doctor is recommending that I see an orthopedic surgeon about my feet and recommending "quad therapy" for my RA. He said this is four different medicines (including a steroid) to help manage my RA. I don't like taking medicines--even aspirin and said I would have to think about that. This morning I was talking about it with my best friend, and she said, "You're a cancer survivor. Are you supposed to be taking steroids?" I will have to ask about that. I can't take hormone replacement therapy medications for that reason. I feel like an idiot for not thinking to ask at the time.

I had to visit my lawyer today. He's on nerve blockers for his terrible back pain. After an injection he has a lot less pain but it doesn't last for more than a couple of weeks. Today he told me that his son, who is a GP, says that he should try Cannabis. He told of a woman with extreme back pain, she'd had two surgeries with little improvement, Her daughter took her to a Cannabis clinic -- soon to be legal in Canada but already functioning on some level. The agent gave her mother a few drops of Cannabis orally. It didn't help much. She then gave her a topical ointment. this was a success. She is painfree for 24 hours after taking this ointment. No side effects. I say, let's get with this program! By the way -- I'm not a marijuana smoker!

You may want to talk to your doctor about what is available besides smoking cannabis. About ten years ago my doctor and I were having one of 'those' discussions. I mentioned something about people wanting medical marijuana and he told me that he could prescribe several different medicines with the same material that helps with some peoples pain. They were in pill form. Like many things doctors do not want to mention certain drugs that might need higher and higher dosage to maintain the same effect. The need for higher dosage was a major drawback from his point of view. Some doctors may have only heard of these drugs so yours may just shake their head and tell you that they do not exist. Good luck with your RA. I too have some type of autoimmune problem but causes pain. When it flares about every 15 years the only thing that has lessened the pain is the steroids.

Hi Malfleur -- you may reread my post and see that the recommendation is not to SMOKE the marijuana -- I feel quite puzzled by the doctor who says he has similar medications. My lawyer, unfortunately for me, is a very highly paid lawyer -- meaning he can afford to go to the Mayo Clinic if he'd like. His doctor doesn't have anything more to offer than monthly nerve blocking injections. His son is a doctor (he lives in another city) and he is telling his father that medical marijuana ointment or pill is something that may alleviate his pain. If my lawyer's personal physician is opposed to marijuana then his son, a doctor, will refer him to a doctor who is more open to it.

Does Medication with the same ingredients as Marijuana sound better. Doctors, if they have the proper clearance, can write prescriptions for them. The man's son has suggested the medication and probably does not want to write a script for his father because of legal and medical conflicts. Finding the medication may be a problem because it may be only available from what is called a compounding pharmacy. Ask your own doctor rather than relying on second hand information. My personal feeling about medical marijuana is that most of the effect is a placebo effect. The other part is the way it can relax people. Having been a college student in the late 60's and early 70's back when what was available was not as strong I saw the effect on some people. I also saw the effect if they thought they were using it. Both were quite similar.

I do not know what they have in them but on Amazon you can find all kinds of things that say they have the effective substance. I do not know if they will send them to you or if they would have any effect. However RA is in all the parts of the body and putting a crème or drop on one part of the body does not in my mind seem realistic that it would help. When there is a flair up in a particular part of your body they might have a muscle calming effect. But that is just my thought and people swear by the stuff. You do though need have your Rheumatologist and your Oncologist discuss between them what you can and cannot take.

You too could go to the Mayo Clinic if your insurance will cover the visits. Not everyone that goes there has money. I live in Kansas City, Missouri and one of the latest medical grouping advertise that they are associated with Mayo's. You could check on line with your insurance company. Call or go to the insurance company website. Use the zip code 55905 as the location to see if any doctors in that zip code are accepted. They also have facilities in Florida and Arizona.

My husband has RA and has had two back surgeries, one level neck fusion and two hip replacements (none of the surgeries related to RA by the way) and he took the medical marijuana (pill form) and used a vaporizer stick that you put a drop of the marijuana oil in and inhale. It did seem to help him and he slept much better and with less pain. It did not cause him to act strange or silly or anything like that. I would never have known he was taking it if he had not told me. He also takes injections once a week for a drug called Enbrel. He has been taking it for 14 years and it works wonders. He tried to go off of it a couple of times because he wanted to see if was truly helping and his joints swelled, were red hot and he really hurt. He has had no side effects in all this time. Early on (20 years ago) when he started the meds he was giving a drug called Plaquenil, Methotrexate and Prednisone. Those worked for awhile and then the Enbrel came out and he started that medication. Our health coverage does not pay for the cannibis unfortunately.

i have claw toes too. I have RA. You might try SAS shoes. But of course

any shoe that has toe room. My toenails are weird too.

mayo clinic, dh went there ,he has diabetes. They said yep you have diabetes.

took 8 months to get them to send the right info to ins co to be paid. We had ins

ok before he went.