Rheumatoid Arthritis Q & A

Prior to a car accident in which I was a passenger in March of 2000, I had no symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis, nor does my family have any history of RA. A doctor in my medical clinic at the time indicated that the car accident may have triggered or brought on the RA . I have also read in a natural health remedy manual that I have at home that an injury can bring on RA. I would like to know if you have found any documentation that also supports this or if you can provide me with any other information that would back this up.

About 10 weeks ago I had a sudden onset of symptoms resembling RA that involve almost all of my joints. My rheumatologist say that the blood work does not show anything, and the symptoms may be identical to a virus or it could be a neurologists’ area. How fast can be the damage to joints? In case of uncertainty, how frequent the monitoring should be? I was told to come in another 6 weeks.

Can trauma be considered a possible cause of RA?

Is there certain foods that make osteo & rheumatoid arthritis symptoms better & worst?

If molecular mimicry is at work in the rheumatoid synovium (assuming the presence of a foreign antigen), can a therapeutic vaccine (or several vaccines) be developed to “retrain” the immune system into choosing a different, unambiguous epitope? I assume each vaccine so devised (either peptide or DNA based) would have to be antigen specific. There are several well known suspected antigens that could serve as targets for such an approach.

Being a cancer survivor (GI-FAP) and having a low bone desity due to HRT complications and thrpugh a bone marrow tap done as a youth I was diagnosed with RA. Now in the late 30’s and seeing signs now since a serious injury. That being said, my questions is: Can injuries cause RA complications or to be more prevalent?