I also have RA and Fibro. I know that my hands, feet, ankles, and knees are RA because RA has swelling that is hot to the touch. Both give you fatigue and pain. Fibro does not destroy the joints like RA does.
I am not an expert though so it is best if you do research on the web. I had to check out what exactly Fibro was when the Rheumy first dx it. I am not a doctor or nurse but do know how to search out symptoms, treatments, etc online. The Mayo Clinic and.Web MD are pretty reliable sources for information.

Thank you. I know my lower back and hip pain is fibro. Leg pain. General pain. I am thinking my hands elbows ect may be RA. So confusing. M

Deanma, I have fibro and AS, which is similar to RA. I tend to attribute my joint pain to the AS and the all over aches and being sensitive to touch to the fibro. I actually asked my rheumy about that, wondering why I hurt all over when I lightly poked places. She said that is most definitely the fibro. Sometimes it is hard to differentiate between the two, especially when it comes to the fatigue and general yuckiness.

I am off all RA meds because they said the symptoms I have are fibro. I tried all meds u take for fibro and had adverse reactions. So no treaent. I finally after about a ur came up w a swollen red knuckle. Rheumy said def. Seroneg. RA. Come back in two mths...she's still hesitant to put me on biologics. I've been on dmards and few biologics the first yr. The second yr they diagnosed fibro.....all kinds of fun. Pain is bad some days and worse others. Can't work. Denied disability...cuz of periods of time I tried working and could.M

Deanna,

I've wondered lately if maybe the RA I have is either leaning more towards Fibro? I'm experiencing what I thought was a mild flare up since May.

But I have no swelling to speak of, joints are not hot to the touch & no stiffness. Yet I have mild pain in several spots & not all are symmetrical such as in RA??

Is there a special separate test for Fibro?

These diseases are confusing.

There is a tender or trigger spot test Dr will perform....have to have 11 out of 18 to be diagnosed. I know I have both. Probly eventually will need biologic.

Interesting. Okay thanks. I'll do some research & then maybe ask my Rheumy to get tested

I have severe RA, there is no doubt about it. And no fibromyalgia until 2010. I used to lift 15 lb. free weights, and it started getting harder and harder. I didn't stop or take a break, so I should not have been having muscle issues. This happened when I was waiting for Rituxan to work, and living on 15-20 mg of prednisone a day. I continued to bike my 30 km every other day, and to garden and do all the other things I liked to do. But everything got harder, despite no RA flares.

After Rituxan started working, I just didn't worry about the muscle pain anymore. Then 3 years later, I went to a pain management doctor, to get something to get me through till the next biologic worked.

He poked my arm suddenly, and I jumped out of the chair the pain was so bad. Then he poked a bunch of other places and said I definitely met the criteria for fibromyalgia. Well, at least that explained why I could not lift heavy weights any more.

Because my RA is so debilitating and deforming, I really don't worry about the fibromyalgia. It doesn't cause permanent damage, even if it hurts. I suppose I should pay more attention to it. But getting some kind of RA med to work has been my goal since 2013 when I came off Rituxan. Maybe if I get on mthx with Orencia, and I am back to feeling really good, I will look further into the fibromyalgia and treatments.

Deanma,

Did I miss something? What are you taking now for the RA?

The rheumy took me off the meds a yr ago for surgery. Then after surgery recuperation kept me off because with the new fibro dx I think they were wondering if I ever had seronegative RA. Well....I just had a flare.....so now it's for sure. Seeing rheumy soon.

I've posted my thoughts on fibro before. It's not a disease.....it's just a collection of symptoms. I also think it's overdiagnosed and used when they can't find the real problem.

I do agree with you Lynn. Except I didn't get a fibromyalgia diagnosis until 15 years after I got RA. But like I said, it is not something that I worry about in the slightest. If my RA is under control, that is all that matters. Plus, for me, the pain of RA is so much worse.

With all due respect, to continue to advance the myth that Fibro is not 'real' is a disservice to those who struggle with it.

From the Mayo Cilnic: "In people who have fibromyalgia, the brain and spinal cord process pain signals differently. As a result, they react more strongly to touch and pressure, with a heightened sensitivity to pain. It is a real physiological and neurochemical problem."

There are many researchers working on the why's and wherefores of this disease to try and find better treatments for those who suffer.

I have RA and have also been diagnosed with Fibro. Sometimes it's hard to know where the RA ends and the Fibro starts, but there are times that I know my symptoms are not RA related. I am on the usual DMard cocktail of MTX and Plaquenil as well as a biologic for my RA. Once my Rheumy determined some of my continued issues were Fibro related I started on Cymbalta . It didn't get rid of things completely, but did help quite a bit.

"With all due respect, to continue to advance the myth that Fibro is not 'real' is a disservice to those who struggle with it. "

I never said it wasn't REAL. I just said it was not a disease. It is a set of symptoms.....and it doesn't mean that pain doesn't exist. Of course there's pain.

My intent was to forewarn people who were given this diagnosis NOT to be content with it. More digging needs to be done. Far too many physicians label these symptoms as Fibro n the absence of enough criteria to qualify for a disease such as RA. So while someone accepts he has Fribro, he may not be getting the treatment needed for the disease he REALLY has.

I also suspect that for those people who have first been diagnosed with [e.g.] RA, and later are told they have Fibro by a rheumatologist....that the rheumatologist suspects a flare in the RA but can't support that with blood test values.

Hey, I'm not an MD, so what do I know?

But even the Mayo Clinic admits in the link below that all other possible diseases must be excluded before giving a diagnosis for Fibro.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/fibromyalgia/in-depth/fibromyalgia-symptoms/art-20045401

https://www.accp.com/docs/bookstore/acsap/a15b1_m1sample.pdf

http://www.uptodate.com/contents/differential-diagnosis-of-fibromyalgia

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/329838-differential

http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/diseasemanagement/rheumatology/fibromyalgia-syndrome/

http://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/fibromyalgia/

http://www.webmd.com/fibromyalgia/guide/common-misdiagnoses-of-fibromyalgia

http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/content/42/2/263.full

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9236485