My feet were affected first. Felt like I was walking on marbles in the morning. Steps were miserable.
Is the pain from the middle of your foot to the heel?
I have had bouts of plantar fasciitis in the past, but whe my immune system started attacking my connective tissues it got MUCH worse . . .

I have had RA for 30 years now. I started in my wrists and feet. Yes, that is some of the things you will notice once it starts in the feet. You should tell your Dr. and he will probably want xrays to
confirm to make sure.
There is also numbness,swelling in the ankles, your feet will widen, toe joints will ache just like your fingers, heel spurs,hammer toes,aches dropping.You may need to eventually get orthotics for your shoes because of the dropped arches. (they do help to releave foot pain). You may have your big toe become red,swollen and v.v.painful like gout, but it's not. (be careful, some people with RA develope a gout-like reaction from too much artificial sweetners. it's rare, but happens.)
get comfortable shoes, low heel, natural fibers,,wide enough.Watch how they are cut. The top of my feet have a slight buckle-up to them. If I wear low cut flats, hey dig into the bones on top. If I tie my shoes, it's to the side. The knot on top will cause pressure and hurt.
I hate to add this, but, you still have time; you will eventually kiss the wedges, high heels, and backless shoes good-bye.(I cried and it took me 6 years before I got ridde of mine!)
Have someone message your feet or get a footbath that keeps the water warm and has a masage feature.You want to exercise your feet and toes. Get a wooden foot message roller. Flex and rotate your ankles frequently. You want to keep the circulation going down there. Practice picking things up with your toes or roll a small ball with the balls of your feet.
Also, wear socks to bed. If your feet hurt at night,socks will keep them warm and the blood flowing. When sitting around, a pair of goose down slippers will keep them warm and they are not heavy.
I mention this because when you develope RA in your feet, they become verysensitive to pressure. I use to sleep with 2 pillow stacked after my feet to keep the blankets off them at night. Now, I sleep undeer the covers w\ith my feet sticking out with socks on them.
If you can think of anything else let me know. I had to learn the hard way.
Kaytech59

Thank you Roseis and Kaytech. I have been wearing good flat shoes for a long time now but that was to help my hips. I will heed your advice and start taking better care. The pain is on the base underneath the toes and does not feel like plantar fasciitis (which I have had before). I don't know, sometimes I feel like crying I get so sick of this disease and now my feet burn and my hands hurt and it just sucks frankly. Sigh.

My feet were also affected first. I was seeing an orthopedist, and getting physical therapy, but both decided I needed a rheumatologist. My toes hurt (a lot). The ball of my feet felts like I had rocks in my shoes (ouch, ouch), and my ankles were sore. I also have some issues in my hands, but not nearly as painful as my feet. Was diagnosed in early June, am on MTX and Celebrex for pain & inflammation.

I have this too. My RA did not start in my feet, but it is there now. I can't walk or stand for long. It sure is complicating my life. Kaytech has it right. The burning in my feet wakes me up every night, and I see my bones poking out and moving around. Sometimes, if I walk too much I can feel the bones moving! I will be asking my Ruemy about some assistance to get around.

That's odd. I went to my doctor 2.5 years ago about my feet burning and feeling like walking on sharp marbles, and my hands doing the same. She brushed it off to old age (her go to phrase for 2 years of appointments about joints and pain and swelling was "you're not 25 anymore", she's not my doctor anymore) I still have burning feet, and cannot sleep with covers on them. I never connected the burning to the RA which was eventually diagnosed.

My RA more affects the top of my feet and my toes, but yeah, this could be the RA. My hands, feet, ankles, and knees started out being the first things affected. I've just come to accept that I'm never wearing heels again. Eh, it's not like I wore them that much to begin with.

Feet, hands, and shoulders is where my troubles landed and resulted in my dx with RA. Prednisone helped tremendously until other meds kicked in. I also had plantar fasciitis a couple of years prior (foreshadowing?) .

I am fortunate now that I no longer have the problems in the feet unless I stand too long without moving.It took quite a while before I regained my 'foot' power, but it did heal up.

Resting, taking my meds, and wearing Haflinger clogs saved me. I seldom go barefoot for more than a few steps now.

I notice that some of you prop pillows to keep the covers off of your feet....If you go to www. amazon.com you can find "blanket lifters" or Blanket support. also there is a catalog for www.make-life- easier.com that has all kinds of helpful items... and there is another called ---easycomforts.com I have ordered items from all of these web sites and have been very happy with the items I purchased...You might want to take a look for yourselves to see what they have.. Anything that helps is fine with me.

I also began experiencing this recently. The burning, tingling and occasional numbness in my feet and hands. It's especially bad at night. My elbows down to my fingers burn and feel very heavy. The same thing from my hips down to my toes. My husband tells me that as soon as I fall asleep, my hands tighten into fists. It's so uncomfortable that I can't sleep well. I have an appointment with my rheumatologist today. I hope I get some answers. Good luck to you.

My recent experience has been that my lower extremities were causing all kinds of chaos. I was on MTX and Humira at the time. My primary care physician took x-rays, no RA involvement was found. My rheumy referred me to a neurologist...

The bottom line is that the neurologist determined through testing that I have peripherial neuropathy in my ankles and feet. It always was worse in the evening. I was being treated incorrectly for restless leg syndrome. The neurologist believed the neuropathy was directly caused by the MTX!!! What luck, huh? So now I am off the MTX, and trying to find something that helps the nerve pain.

The nerve pain feels like electricity was zapping me at times, the souls of my feet feel like I am walking on crushed glass, especially after sitting or resting. And there is a stinging, biting sensation at times, along with a constant burning. The neurologist explained that the nerves are "firing", without cause and need to be "calmed or shut down".

Thank you, RA! Grrrr.....

Good luck, -daizy8

Daizy,
I know people who have had success with similar symptoms using prescription strength capsaicin.
I was prescribed neurontin for nerve pain. The good news is it started to help. The bad news is I had an anaphylactic reaction. Though, I know many people (including my mother in law and my best friend) who have used it with success.
I found help with Cymbalta. And a friend has had success with Maprotiline.
I can sympathize, nerve pain is horrific.

Thanks Rosie,

Neurontin was a horror. It worked but changed my personality into a horrid bitch. Cymbalta is not effective for me, other than making me gain weight. Savella is in place to treat my fibro. Taking amitriptiline at night does help, but makes me incredibly sleepy. The recent try was trileptal which put me into zombie land... totally flat affect and sleep was all I wanted to do. Guess it is a trial and error with me. Oh yeah, I had allergic reaction to trileptal as well with hives on the neck.

I just hope someone might second think the MTX use... and check to be sure what the foot and ankle pain really is.

Thanks. -daizy8

I was on Cymbalta. Even had the dose upped. Didn't really help. But, noticed we could not get swelling of legs un der control. We stopped the cymbalta becuse I felt it wasn't working. The leg swelling went down. Hmmm? Yes, it is a trial and error desease.It would be nice to win once in a while.

I had the burning and tingling in my feet way before I started using MTX. It has settled down since I've been on it. I also am on Prednisone and Simponi. I think that it was bothering me so bad because I was so inflammed with RA. It's amazing how everyone is so different!