What can be done for rheumatoid arthritis?

Mayo Clinic have

The sad fact is that there is no cure available today to cure rheumatoid arthritis. The most that can be done is to alleviate the pain and slow down the progression of the disease. This mostly involves regimens of exercise, and anti- inflammatory medicines and pain-killers.

if your mother is in pain, I would suggest a trip to a specialist in autoimmune diseases as soon as possible. Perhaps a change in her medication can help with the pain, and this will give her more motivation.

Take fish oil

 Food magnetism = meditation + pranayama + exercise + healthy diet

I am 54 and just started to have the same symptoms.  I had spent the last 3 or 4 months on the couch as just walking from the bed to the couch was a painful, stiff hipped journey that seemed to take more and more out of me.

 I began to research the combination of meds they had me on and anything else that had changed in the last year.  I was soooooo lucky.  It turned out the doctor had prescribed Welbutrin for me which is known to cause drug induced arthritic symptoms.  So I stopped that and forced (and I do mean forced) myself to do 20 minutes of stretching every morning because the less you do, the less you can do.

I am feeling better, some days are way more stiff than others, especially when it is damp and/or raining outside.   

 I am sure it was the Welbutrin that kicked everything off because I have tried several times to take a capsule and every time I do, I have an immediate increase in symptoms, pain, and swelling. 

Be gentle with your Mom.  She has to make her own decisions.  If she isn't ready to address the problems and you can't talk her into working to find solutions, then you have done all you can.  Respect her choices for it is her pain.  

"Always remember thirty is old to a teenage, but sixty is a baby to the eighties." 

I am a 44 yr old female and have RA.  I was diagnosed 6 yrs ago and feel better right now than I have for MANY years.  My first suggesion is that you get your Mom to a GOOD Rheumatologist IMMEDIATELY.  The sooner treatment is started, the less permanant damage she will have!  Meds for RA have come such a long way over the past few years.  THe new "Biologics" are very expensive (mine cost $1800.00 per month) plus all the other meds that they have me on, so it is important that she has insurance or that you get her on a program that will help pay for some or all her meds.  I do know that