RA or IA

[Denae011]

Hi is there a difference between inflammatory arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis? Some Drs say i have inflammatory and some say rheumatoid.

[helixhelix]

Inflammatory arthritis is the generic name .....like vacuum cleaners. And rheumatoid arthritis is like a specific brand of vacuum cleaner. Other specifics under that heading are psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and so on. Sometime, especially early on it's hard to work exactly which brand you have so they just use generic name.

[hawker955]

Yes. RA is a very specific type of inflammatory arthritis, caused by your own immune system getting confused and attacking your own tissues!

[Denae011 in reply to hawker955]

Yes the doctor says it is my immune system attacking my own tissues etc. I have methotrexate and steroids for it. I think at my next appointment ill ask them to be more specific. Thank you for your replies, much appreciated