Hi @Canadian RA - I used to have nodules, but they've dissipated over the last year or two. I'd never heard about nodules being rare in folks who are RF negative - but, interestingly, I got my nodules while my RF factor was positive and at about the same time the nodules went away, my RF factor began to dip into the single digits (though, unfortunately, I'm not yet in clinical remission. Getting there, I hope).

* What my nodules felt like > Like small marbles under my skin.

* Where they were > On both elbows only, to my knowledge.

Interesting question - it'll be intriguing to find out what others have experienced.

I have a large one on my elbow that I want to get removed although I dont know what kind of doctor removes them. I also have 2 small ones on my right hand next to my wrist. I started Orencia 3 weeks ago and they havent even shrunk. I dont know

I had a large one on the bottom of my right foot. It grew to the size of a golf ball before I decided to have something done. I found a doctor who would remove it, but warned that it would probably come back. That was two years ago and, thank God, it hasn't come back yet.

Nodules are basically ganglion cysts that originate from the synovial lining of the joint -- they are "attached".

I had a cluster inside my knee cap. The knee doc removed them when he did clean-up arthroscopic surgery for cartilage degeneration. They can also be aspirated, but the probability of them returning is greater with aspiration than with surgical removal. They can also just rupture on their own and disappear or be reabsorbed.

I have a couple. Yes a bit like marbles but maybe a little softer. Like they are made of rubber rather than glass. They also seem uneven and not a round even shape. I have had two little ones in my hand that felt like tiny hard peas but they have gone.

I was told that if removed they would come back. They feel some days than others. Main one in my elbow which is actually two but changes somehow is about the size of a macdamia nut, maybe a little larger. One in my left elbow is more elongated and flatter.

Have something in my knee about the size of a walnut but not always evident. Kind of appears if I walk wrong.

Also developed what would be called a bunion I guess on one foot. Came really rapidly over the course of a couple of months. I think this type of bunion might be like a nodule. Not sure.

Am RA sero negative. Diagnosed first half of 2006. Never been told they are rare in sero negative. Someone posted on here once that more severe RA causes them but may not be true.

I have them in elbow. Can roll them around. Elbow swelled
size of ping pong ball. Had drained. One removed in foot.
RF negative CCP positive.

I was just recently reading the relationship between ganglion cysts/nodules and RA. Your comments are super helpful. My doctor is still waiting for my anti-ccp and ENA to come back and told me that my cyst was "just" a ganglion. I'm being referred to a Rheumy but was told it can take a year here in Canada.