Rheumatoid arthritis.

I am looking for a good cookbook or website maybe even a dietician for my RA. My rheumy is trying to reduce my prednisone after 4-5 years (I'm at 4 mg now) for my PMR. He also has me on Aria Simponi infusions for my RA. I'm in more pain now. Is it the reduction of prednione or Aria Simponi that is causing my pain. I'm 75 year old female & a caregiver for my husband with LBD.
Your thoughts?

Yea - MTX is big no-no for liver if you are already showing elevated enzyme levels. But depending on the anti-TNF you are on, you may have risk of forming antibodies to it when you stop MTX. I did so with Humira when they stopped mtx for me. So I had to change anti-tnf drug.

First..inform your primary you intend to fire that Rheumy and get a new one - it would be great if he would participate.. i moved a lot in my career so had to frequently hire new ones. And I fired two.

The second one I fired tried to pass mine off as Osteo because I was sero-negative since diagnosis in NY. But as luck would have it, this time i came back sero positive. So I found another, he put me on remicaid and life has been great since. I occasionally flare and take low dose prednisone for as brief a time as possible. I have supplemented with Hydroxychloroquine but I don’t like it so don’t take that route.

You may have to try two or three to find your magic potion.

@marieirene
I have skin tested allergic to wheat , but never really followed a no wheat diet .But after failing other RA meds for one reason or another, I was left with taking sulfasalzine and a small dose of prednisone which really isn't keeping me pain free.
I suspect it is the lower doses of prednisone that is causing your symptoms to increase. Last year I weaned off of 10 mg daily over a period of 3-4 months. Perhaps that was too fast, but at any rate, I could not remain prednisone free. I'm managing, barely, on 5 mg now.
Simponi Aria was one of the meds I failed. My RA symptoms actually got better after my first infusion, and I was so hopeful I could continue it. But about a week after that infusion I began to have cardiac issues , so could not.

After all that, I decided to take my wheat allergy seriously and stop eating wheat. It is really hard to do, but it makes a big difference for me and on rare occasions when I cheat, the aching and severe fatigue starts all over again. There is literature that suggest that a lot of people with RA do better when they give up wheat.

Another thing is perhaps taking fish oil might help. I started taking it 6 months after I was diagnosed 25 years ago. There have been good studies that show that taking it for RA eliminates the need for pain meds in some RA patients. There is good information online about how to take it and the dosages used in studies that were done.
I have never been overweight, but I know that for people who are, it is harder to manage their disease.
My daughter has sero-negative RA and she is quite overweight and is having a harder time than I've ever had.

Hi, I am new to this. I am living with my wife who has 3 autoimmune deficiencies. She has psoriatic arthritis, psoriasis, and Haji Moto thyroidism. Now her organs are wanting to shut down from. All the biological injections from the past 6 years. Now the doctor is saying she could have bone loss. She is constantly sick. I want to be a better husband and to help her with all this. Its caused marital problems. I just don't know what to do. Please help