I'm in the same boat. Because I am having normal blood results my doctor is saying I have fibro pain not RA pain.
BUT I have always been sero negative for RF and have had in range ESR & CRP results every since I overcame my horrific onset that lasted 3 months and rendered me an invalid during that time.

To me- RA pain is very distinguishable from other pain- but if you don't have RA you wouldn't know. (I'm talking about my doctor who refuses to acknowledge I'm continuing to have RA pain) Before RA I never had pain like this. It is usually in the small joints- hands, wrists, ankles & feet. Sometimes its a tenderness but in worse cases it feels like a sprain and in worst cases it feels like broken bones.

After he told me I had fibro I poo pooed it but then all of a sudden I had the insides of my knees become very tender to the slightest touch- but it felt like ....skin pain? I don't know how to describe it- it didn't feel deep like in a joint. I've had a tender spot on my chest like that from time to time. I do have side of my neck and upper back pain always- I thought that was stress. I had a pelvic exam at my GYN's recently and although I went in feeling perfect- the exam triggered some kind of reaction where I had terrible pelvic pain and lower back pain for a couple of weeks, It was so pronounced during the exam I was made to have an ultrasound which did find a couple of problems but these things would absolutely not cause pelvic pain according to the doctor. (Lucky me-now I need a biopsy)

Also from time to time I get weird pain in that long bone area from side of hand & wrist to elbow. I think that's RA affecting a tendon?

I do think prednisone can alter your ESR results. Ithink I have heard of inflammation & joint damage can occur without an elevation in ESR. To be safe I recently asked to have xrays of my hands, wrists, ankles & feet again (it had been 2 years since the last) to check for damage. Thankfully there was none- which probably caused my doctor to think "told you so- it's not RA pain you're having".

I'll be very interested to hear others describe the difference- maybe it is me that is wrong.

I have no difficulty telling the difference at all, and I've told my docs that too. My GP seems to understand that, but my Rheumy doesn't. My Rheumy is new to me though, so she doesn't know me as well.

My fibro pain was never joint related. It's always been muscular, sometimes connective tissues (which could be RA too) and other random sensitivities like skin, eyes and bowel.

My Rheumy keeps telling me that my fibro is acting up, but if it is, the RA is just overshadowing it so much that I honestly can't tell.

I've been told numerous times that I don't have Fibro. Because I don't have the "tender points." Not one of them in the "known" location. As far as RA, I have two doctors claiming that's what I have but Rheumy disagrees. (Rheumy says nothing is wrong.) I'm seeing a new rheumy on the 18th.

My pain is located in fingers, toes, wrists, ankles, shoulders and neck. Sometimes the pain is a sudden stab like pain....like something was just stabbed through the joint and left there. Other times I have a freezing/burning/numb sensation. Yet other times it's a dull constant ache. Then top these with swelling and stiffness. Does any of this sound familiar? Fibro or RA? Both?

I believe that Prednisone can alter the results of ESR. Afterall the Prednisone is supposed to help with the inflammation in your body. Right?

Is there a possibility that once the inflammation is down/gone from a joint that we have a 'tendinitis" type pain remaining? Where the tendon is still irritated from the previous inflammation?

I know I'm grasping at straws but I'm just really trying to figure out this whole world of joint pain.

Gosh it is so crazy to me that it seems like so many rhuemys out there are the same. I have seronegative RA also although I have constant elevated CRP and SED rate I have never had the tender points (although I do believe I have mild fibro) my rhuemy always seems to pin my pain on my "pain syndrome" not my RA mostly because when I see him I don't have physical evidence of swelling but I have pain very often and stiffness just like you guys in small hand joints, feet ,ect... Hang in there. I am looking for a new rhuemy.

I am also seuronegative. Swelling is minimal, but the joints can get warm to the touch. Sometimes I wish they'd swell way up or some other more visible manifestation, just so I wasn't doubted. Like several of you, I kinda feel that because things don't fall so neatly in their predefined categories of symptoms, it is either dismissed or they treat Fibro as a "garbage can." I feel that the Dr., as soon as she saw the normal ESR and didn't see any swelling, already had her mind made up and practiced no active listening skills.

I must be weird, because most of the time I can't tell the difference. I was dx with fibro earlier last year. All trigger points. I am doing very well now, meaning I am not suffering from horrible pain. Just less pain than before.
I have been up and down so many times. Just hoping I will stay this way!

Lynne, are you saying that you have Fibro pain in your wrists and other small joints, or that the pain feels the same? Glad to hear that you're doing well right now. It's been 20 years for me, and have yet to find a med that helps.

The pain in my hands and wrists is RA. The muscle pain around my elbows could be fibro. It just is all the same pain to me.

While distinguishing Rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia we need to remember few things those are (a). Rheumatoid arthritis does not involves end joints close the nail. And if you are feeling tenderness in that place than that could be the fibromyalgia. Treatment should be done to Rheumatoid arthritis first then to fibromyalgia.

Leo