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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Charting symptoms

mckvirginia
mckvirginia

I'm really bad at communicating my symptoms when I see the rheumatologist,  and so far I am in the "we're not sure yet, come again in 6 months" stage. I have decided to track my symptoms so I can give them some data....I'm a behaviorist by profession ;). I'm tracking pain level, stiffness, and swelling daily, because those are constant....just a matter of how impairing. I am tracking fatigue and what I would call a flare when it is really impairing.  


The rheumatologist keeps asking me about dry eyes and mouth and sores and rashes. I get  some of those that come and go, got a sore in my mouth now, so tracing that.  I have had numbness in my lip for the last three days...weird, just one spot.....wondered if that is something I should note? Don't know what is significant or what any of that means.  Thought maybe Sjornes?  Didn't see numbness of mouth in symptoms.

oceans11
oceans11
Tracking your symptoms is always a good idea, at least for a specified amount of time. Believe me it can take over at times. I'm not a doctor but that tingling in your lip, I'm wondering IF you do have RA, if it's maybe some cervical inflammation, could be pressing up against some nerves traveling to or through the lip? Wild guess.

Kind of weird they can't figure it out & want you to come back in 6mos??? Geeeez? Did the run the lab work panel on you yet? RF factor, CCP, Anti CCP etc.?
mckvirginia
mckvirginia
Have been seeing rheumatologist for a year and a half, 1st panels were all negative, they said it was osteoporosis and I was sent home. Went back after a year with worsening symptoms, panels show positive ANA but inconclusive on everything else. I think the only thing that makes them hesitant to dx seronegative RA is that my joints (every joint in hands and toes and both sides sides of body) are obviously disfiguring and swollen, but the heat and redness comes and goes. There isn't always heat and there isn't redness on every joint that swells. But at some point they all do......I assume that is why, anyway, because that is what they keep mentioning...."well, only this this one is red...."
oceans11
oceans11
Hmmm, does OA disfigure at the same rate as RA. RA if very aggressive can cause those type of fast disfigurements but I'm not aware if OA does or not?
meggg514
meggg514
I found the myRA app to be helpful with tracking symptoms. There are lots of free apps you may want to try. Good luck !
mckvirginia
mckvirginia
Thank you, meggg514! I really like that app! Hope it helps.
doodlebug25
doodlebug25
My story has some similarities, in that my labs are all negative, and my joint symptoms are atypical (from what I have been told). Multiple PIP and MCP joints are stiff for hours (they feel tight), and painful intermittently throughout the day (sometimes without any movement, but often if I have been using my hands). Swelling and mild redness/warmth come and go through the day as well - never when I am at my rheum's office of course.

I try to keep a diary, but I also take pictures with my phone to try to catch these periods of swelling or redness. I have a "folder" of pics of my hands so I can pull those up easily.

He always asks me the same questions - rash (psoriasis) or dry eyes/mouth (Sjogren's) and I think that is to either switch the diagnosis to psoriatic arthritis or primary Sjogren's, or to help "confirm" sero-neg RA by seeing the secondary Sjogren's (since it is usually with RA or lupus). Sjogrens alone can cause joint symptoms as well so I have no idea how to distinguish primary from secondary when joint pain is present.

I recently started having symptoms of dry eyes, and just was officially diagnosed with dry eyes by ophtho, so I am awaiting a rheum follow-up to see where we go next. I also took pics of my eyes as they were red every morning for several hours - so were normal looking when I saw the ophtho in the afternoon.