Early signs?

Hi everyone.
Newbie here :) I've been having some autoimmune-like symptoms over the last 8 months but haven't yet figured out what's going on. My father has RA (and osteoarthritis AND gout!) and his father also had RA, so I'm concerned that perhaps these may be the very early symptoms.

In February, things started with the inflammatory gastrointestinal symptoms. Incessant nausea and right-sided pain (both upper and lower quadrant). It took until June for me to get in with a good GI doc and get an upper endoscopy and colonoscopy. He found I had gastritis and a hiatal hernia. He also said I had cellular changes in my colon that - in the context of complaints of chronic watery diarrhea - would warrant a diagnosis of lymphocytic colitis (which from my research is thought to be autoimmune). Although I have suffered from IBS since adolescence, watery diarrhea hasn't been an issue for me. So the doc said we'll put that on the back burner unless my symptoms change.

In conjunction with the GI pain, my hormones seemed to go mad and I developed severe pelvic/menstrual symptoms. I had severe pelvic spasms that went down my legs. I was diagnosed with suspected endometriosis and put on the continuous birth control pill which - after about 6 months - finally seemed to help. I continue to have regular flare-ups of the gastritis. I have also had intermittent low-grade fevers, and from about March through June I had a mild hive-like rash on my left arm that would sometimes flare up and sometimes 'be quiet'. Now that rash is gone.

The other symptom is inflammation in the costal cartilage of the ribs. Specifically I developed inflammation of the breastbone and cartilage of the 2nd rib on my left side. When my primary care doc saw that, he suspected autoimmune or Lyme, but all my tests came back normal. That was in June (although the rib swelling began in March). I assumed it was Tietze's syndrome (like costochondritis but with visible swelling). Then in late July, I noticed my right collarbone at the sternoclavicular joint was sticking out a bit. There were no lumps or masses, no rash on the skin...it was just sort of 'elevated'. I didn't injure it, I'm sure. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to the touch and there are times when it's not sticking out as much as others, but other times it REALLY bothers me. On a few occasions, it's woken me up at night because it is throbbing like crazy. Other times, it just burns or 'lightly pulsates'. Then sometimes I'll have a sensation like it's wet or cold (but the skin isn't cold). It's impinging on the muscle that runs up and down the right side of the neck, so I'm getting a lot of referred pain up my neck and even in the back of my neck and running along the top of the right shoulder (I think a lot of nerves run under the SC joint, so I'm guessing this is why).

Does any of this sound like it could be early RA? Since my ANA and RF came back negative a few months ago, I think my primary care doc figured it was just benign inflammation that would go away on its own, but that doesn't seem to be happening. So far the only joints involved are the sternoclavicular and sternocostal, and both of those are unilateral, so I wasn't sure if this really fit the RA profile. Any advice would be much appreciated :)

Thanks for your reply. Sorry I forgot to mention in June he tested me for lupus, lyme, RF and ANA (and CBC/blood chemistries) and everything was negative/normal. Of course I guess negative doesn't necessarily mean I don't have one of those. Those tests were just run by the primary care doc though. I haven't been to a rheumy yet because I've been waiting to see what goes on with my symptoms. Do you think a rheumy would give me a more comprehensive workup even though it's only been about 4 months since I was last tested?

I didn't have any early signs except POF, premature ovarian failure, but there was no explanation and then the RA came on after a bout with a stomach bug. After that the inflammation was pretty much everywhere, bladder, GI tract etc. It was pretty much a downward spiral. I kept getting what I thought were UTI's, went to a urologist and was diagnosed with IC, I had a great deal of bladder inflammation, and then about a year after that I found a couldn't eat a sandwich without feeling ill, and shortly after I was down to eating jello cups, so went to the doctor again, and had testing and was diagnosed with gastroparesis. The endoscopy that was done in the beginning found inflammation of course, so now anytime anything is out of whack I blame it on inflammation.

When I first had knee pain, which was my first symptom of RA, I went to my pcp because I didn't know what was wrong, I too, was tested for lyme, lupus, etc and everything checked out fine. I was then sent to the rheumy. That was in 2006, I am still with the same rheumy and have never had a positive RF that I know of, but do have RA and at times it has been pretty aggressive. In the beginning, the rheumy thought it was reactive and that the joint pain would go away after a few months, but when it didn't and it was still there after 6 months he knew it was something more and treated it more aggresively.

Keep pressing for answers and find a doctor who is willing to treat your symptoms, not just your lab results. If I didn't take my medications, I wouldn't be able to get out bed in the mornings, and I'm not exaggerating, and my tests are *normal*. I hope you get the answers you need and the help.