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Rheumatoid Arthritis
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Posted 3/8/2013 8:15 AM (GMT 0)
Hi, I just have a question. Not sure if this will end up being long.

I have been in and out of the doctor many times within the past year. I get severe pain near my neck and down my arms. When the pain comes I hardly have any function with my arms and hands. I also have really bad hip pain that makes my legs cramp. Some days I can't walk. I feel like I run a fever half the time. Im either really hot or really cold. My doctors have ran tests on my hormones which come back normal. My CBC usually come back abnormal some way each time. My doctor checked some if my vitamins and they are normal. Last she ran tests for ANA which was normal, ESR normal, RH factor normal, uric acid was really low but they said that's normal. I went through a nerve study test that came back normal. Nothing seems to help my pain. I never got any X-rays or anything like that. The doctors are going by my blood tests and I saw a rheumetologist who looked at my blood work and asked my symptoms and sain since I'm not really swollen I got diagnosed with fybromyalgia.

I don't know what to think. It sounds like RA (without swelling) but fybro makes sense too.

Can they diagnose RA just by blood tests? I just don't feel right. And I don't know where to turn with questions. I feel like they said I have fybro and just gave up on me. All day my hands keep going numb and they are swollen. I can't get the pain to go away.
Posted 3/8/2013 12:45 PM (GMT 0)
Can they diagnose RA without blood tests? They generally don't although if the tests are negative they still may diagnose you but not doing the tests makes no sense if they think you have RA.
RA without swelling-RA is characterised by inflamation. There are lots of other diseases and disorders that don't include inflamation but RA is an inflamatory disorder.

I am curious why they haven't done X-rays or some other imaging of your spine.
Posted 3/8/2013 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
Hi you can have RA without obvious swelling But if this were so you would Still have Raised ESR as there will be inflamation in your body seems really unlikly to be RA with No ESR & No RF, I Know some people will jump on me to remind me of Sero Negitive RA But these would have raised ESR or Swelling showing Very rare None of Everything

you could get a Whole Body Bone Scan they inject you with a "glow in Dark" and scan you it shows any inflamation or Hot Spots in Body

i have RA & Fibro and Both these can make you feel Lousy so Fibro might be a good guess But if in Doubt if you can try to get the Whole Body Bone Scan

Posted 3/8/2013 7:09 PM (GMT 0)
I don't know where to go to get any work done without paying too much. I have Kaiser. I had an X-ray once and that was in ther urgent care. I went when I was having days of pain and I couldn't get any relief. So they said I had arthritis in my neck. During that time my ESR was elevated and my thyroid was low. They gave me a muscle relaxer and a Toradol shot and my pain was gone. I had higher expectations seeing the rheumetologist. I figured he'd do X-rays or something. I'm just curious if it could also just be another form of arthritis or if I just have it in more places other than my neck. A friend of mine said it sounded like RA but the only parts that swell is my shoulders. I mean maybe it is fybro but I just don't think they checked me out good enough. To me it seemed like he had that diagnosis before I even saw him.
Posted 3/9/2013 2:09 AM (GMT 0)
I don't think they checked you out well enough either. I also don't think this really sounds like RA.
Have they checked you for AS, or Psoriatic arthritis (do you have any scaly patches, thickend spots on your skin) etc.
It sounds like a lot of your pain is spine related-not typical of RA.
I can't believe they did not X-rays or imaging that seems almost incompetent.
Posted 3/9/2013 3:52 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah. I didn't think it did either. I read up on it and some symptoms were similar. But I know for sure it's in my neck but it never went passed that. I went to a chiropractor also thinking maybe scoliosis but he said no. The only problem he felt with my back is I have a deep curve at the base of my spine which could cause some back pain. But I mean my symptoms match those to fybro but the treatment for it doesn't help. So I don't know. I'm so tired of going to the doctor complaining and getting nowhere.
Posted 3/9/2013 5:28 AM (GMT 0)
You're never pain free with fibro.
Some meds just tamp down the pain to a 4 or 5 for a fibromite.
Posted 3/14/2013 8:04 AM (GMT 0)
It’s not possible to detect only from the blood tests that you have RA. I wonder why the x-rays and other treatment shave not been done for you.
Posted 3/14/2013 3:59 PM (GMT 0)
I think he based his diagnosis that I had pain everywhere, but my blood tests were fine and I didn't have any visible redness and swelling.
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