I believe, but i don't know if anyone else does, that our bodies have RA long before it shows up on tests. The tests we have are not a great diagnosing tool at all, as it is.
I would take you son to the pediatric rheumatologist...then they can monitor him, and myabe give him something to help when he has pain.
Prayers and hugs!

Yeah, I think it is possible to have RA with normal blood tests. I'm with Injoy on the theory that symptoms can show up long before anything shows up in a blood test.
Please keep us posted on your son!
Lynne

I had my 20 year old son get bloodwork the last time he went to the Dr. He has complained for years about aching and stiffness, they also told him it was growing pains.
We just always accepted it when he was growing up, didn't really have any reason to doubt it. To be honest, I had forgotten about the growing pains until recently.
He is all about the Money...is working a second job right now because they cut his hours at the first one. I heard that he called off one night, which meant he must be really sick. We have that nasty cold/allergy/chest thing going on up here right now, that seems to hang on for weeks with everyone. When I called to check on him, he said, well you know, the weather is changing and my hands are killing me. I can't grip anything and they are really stiff. The Bells went off...
So, he got the bloodwork done. We are waiting on the results now. If they are negative, I guess we will have to wait and see. He is 20... invincible as far as he is concerned, but at least I have planted the seed that he will have to pay more attention to how often it happens. That is the best that I can do right now.
I was only diagnosed in April 2011, but had signs before that. I put it off to lots of years of abuse from sports when I was a teen, but now I know better.
I am assuming since you are still taking your son to a pediatrician, that he is younger. Follow up with the Ped. Rheumy, it can't hurt.
I wish you the best of luck.
Kim

Thanks everyone. His appointment isn't until the week after Thanksgiving, so I am just trying to make him comfortable when he has the pain. He has a lot of the stiffness and pain that I have, and it tends to be when the weather gets crappy. And he's always complaining of stiffness in the morning...between his hands being stiff and his legs and feet...I don't know what to do for him. I've been thinking back on things and realize that he had problems previously with this that were chalked up as "growing pain" but now I am wondering. He's only 12, so it was easy to accept that answer, but now I just don't know.

I often wonder if it takes time for our markers to show up because our bodies are still developing antibodies to the "enemy" that is within and is our own bodies.

I am positive that even us "seronegative" patients have antibodies to something that just doesn't have a standardized test or that researchers still don't firmly understand how it plays into the big picture.

Even my immunology textbooks say frequently that they acknowledge certain molecules or they see a pattern . . . they just don't know what it means.
I hope you get some answers for your son. All of you!