Query about review appt

[natellie36]

Hi all,ive had a letter from the rheumy nurse about my last appt with her there are some points i don't understand so hoping that someone could help me with understanding what they mean,

visual analogue of 80?

das score of 5.39?

It does state that i had 11 tender joints and 5 swollen joints,just don't know what these mean the two above,any ideas please.x

[Hidden]

In a nut shell high disease activity.. ask NRAS for further info on this.. they have booklets#

[Sailaway]

The visual analogue is a line on which you indicate the level of pain you're in - do you remember having to put a cross on a line? Or were you asked to give it a score out of 100?

DAS stands for Disease Activity Score; it takes the number of tender joints, the number of swollen joints, the score you put on the line together with your blood test result and does a calculation which comes out with the number which indicates the level of RA activity. It's useful because it takes a number of things into account.

NRAS has a much better explanation here on the site: nras.org.uk/about_rheumatoi...

[natellie36]

Thankyou both i know my bloods were a bit unusual my wbc 11.2 crp 9 lft's alt 98 alkp 82 these are the highest they have been i think,will take alook at the link.

Thanks x

[natellie36]

I didn't get asked about drawing a line or to give a score out of 100.x

[Hidden]

I can see your liver alt is a bit too high - are you on MTX? CRP of 9 is one of your inflammatory marker and that's within normal range I believe - so not a worry and I don't know about WBCs but you should have normal range printed in brackets nearby (in a column on the right hand side on mine normally). If you want to learn more then you will need to look up the lab results site online because each lab has slight variation in normal range and it's pretty complicated. If your GP gets sent them then you could just ask them for a print off of your latest blood results and that should tell you the normal range in your area. I don't get told my DAS but that sounds quite high - as Summer suggests look it up on NRAS. Tilda

[natellie36]

Hi tilda,yes im on mtx 20mg,im just starting to find my way around this site have looked at das so will do a bit more looking.

Thanks x