Polychrondritis?

Question

can any one give me first hand info on this desease. Dr. at VA Hosp: told my husband there is no cure,but that is all ..

Answer 1

I can give you information on the condition but have no first hand knowledge of it myself since I don't have it. I can at least give you a mini-education on it.

Polychondritis or relapsing polychondritis (RPC) is an auto-immune disease where the person's body destroys their cartilage. This is a rare degenerative condition. Cartilage is found in our ears, nose, and connected to muscular-skeletal tissues. This conditon can affect all the cartilage but, in most cases, seems to be hit or miss.

The cause is unknown but usually hits between the ages of 40 -50. Treatment usually involves drugs to suppress the auto-immune system. Unfortunately, these drugs also make the person more susceptible to infection. It is true, there is no cure.

If the doctor who diagnosed your husband was not a rheumatologist, I'd suggest that he see one for treatment and furrher testing. Polychondritis is often accompanied with another conditon such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, or another connective tissue disorder.

Answer 2

Yes, I have relapsing polychrondritis.
I recently had recurrent swelling of the ears that spared my earlobes and 2 migratory arthralgias. A biopsy specimen of the ear showed there were acellular foci of underlying cartilage.

My symptoms were joint pain in my jaws, shoulder and hip. My right ear was sore, red and warm. I would also have sharp pains in my right ear that would come and go. I carried a fever with every episode. The episode would come about every 2 weeks and last about a week with strong doses of motrin. The doctor 1 month ago put me on colchicine which caused me to loose 15 pounds and was very sick. So, this week when i was there he put me on prednisone which i have just started. he also talked about putting me on methotrexate in a few weeks.