Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

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Atypical presentations

deleted_user
deleted_user
Hi everyone! I'm reading posts and feeling a bit like an imposter, because I have no diagnosis at this point, but also because I'm not having the kind of pain that you all seem to endure.
I've had asymetrical joint pain in various finger joints, and ended up going to the doctor because several different joints were presenting different ways. I've been told previously that I have OA in my hands, because I would develop a cyst on a joint which would be associated with joint pain. A couple of PIP joints have presented that way, but another joint (DIP) became swollen and red, and has stayed that way for months, sometimes painful and others not so much. Yet another finger felt like it was swelling but took a number of weeks before I noticed any joint pain. Yet another joint feels more like typical arthritis. Primary doc decided to do labs, and RF came back positive at 147, CRP at 1.0, ANA at 1:80, and ESR 6. So now I'm off to the rheumatologist. Anyone else have a positive RF with mild pain?
JillyT
JillyT
Not me, when i was diagnosed it was a no brainer cause every joint in my body hurt and it was agony. But the truth is that I had RA long before the diagnosis because every joint pain and inflammation had been experienced by me throughout the years, just one or two at a time - not all of them at once.

I think it's a great thing that you and your doctors see the problem before your body has to resort to screaming it at you. Hopefully, you will never experience the extremes that are possible. Good luck with this...hugs jilly
deleted_user
deleted_user
Go ahead and see the rheumy, I was dx'd 7 months ago. My RF is low but I had joint pain and swelling mostly on one side of my body, which isn't normal. Now I have very mild pain and hardlly any swelling. I did have the "cysts" on my palms, ankles and wrist, they are all gone now, along with most of the knee pain. I consider my meds dosages to be pretty low.
Your rheumatologist will put you on scheduled visits to monitor your progress, I went every two months at first, now down to six months.
deleted_user
deleted_user
My RF was only slightly positive when my Gp decided to take the test, he suspected my sudden problems was RA running rampant. I was lucky and had a good rhuemy who diagnosed me with Palindromic rheumatism. That is a sister disease to RA but doesn't leave you with damaged joints once the pain and swelling disappear. It is treated much like RA. Within less than a year my diagnosis was bumped up to full fledged RA. Like Jilly I was screaming pain. I could barely walk and went through days of paralyzing pain that kept me from using first one hand than another etc. None of the medications except prednisone seemed to help. If you see a good rhuematologist they will get you the right diagnosisand hopefully discover early on the medical cocktail that works for your body. Personally, I think there are a lot of bad rhuematologists out there, so be careful. Good luck and keep us informed as to what the rhuemy has to say!
deleted_user
deleted_user
My Reumy explained it to me like this...If a patient presents with all the symptoms and you treat them and they improve then you have satisfaction that you are improving life and it is an accurate diagnosis and treatment. If you reveal out of the patients who actually HAD a postive RF it was only like 60%. That would mean that 40% of people clearly have what those with a positive RF have but without that RF...which is where I fall. I am FINALLY getting relief with treatment!!!! Praise The Lord for someone who saw the symptoms not the labs.
purplekitty
purplekitty
I tested negative during great episodes of pain and positive during a calm phase. Go figure. This is a wierd disease. I tend to have problems on 1 side at a time most often. Occassionaly bilateral.
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