Posted 8/5/2016 3:14 PM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone,
So I'd really appreciate any assistance here, because I am kind of lost as to finding a diagnosis, and doctors really aren't helping me much. Apologies for the long post, but I have a complicated history.
Firstly, here is my background:
-Male
-26 years old
-Have never smoked, don't drink much and am not overweight.
-Only other illness: pretty severe acid reflux disease for about 10 years.
-Only medication I have been on is for that, Nexium.
And here is a description of my joint problems:
-Very first time I noticed something unusual in my joints, was at about 16 years old - If I played tennis more than, say, twice in a week I would notice the ring finger in my right hand would catch a little bit (trigger finger is what it is called I believe). But it would go away with rest, and never had any redness or swelling.
-Then, aged 22 I started a fairly intensive manual labor job for 2 years. Only problems I noticed during the job was a little bit of stiffness involving my fingers after work each day, but nothing too much.
-about a month after I finished job, I noticed all of my fingers on both hands would get sore if I used them too much (a couple of them catching like trigger finger). But never any swelling or redness, and after resting a few days the pain and stiffness would largely go.
-A few months later I tore cartilage in my right wrist lifting weights. No redness or swelling.
-A few months later I noticed my right ankle (seemingly somewhere in the joint) was a little sore. But I couldn't identify any cause of it. After a few days the pain went away. But anytime I do something like kick a soccer ball, the pain in the same spot comes back a little. No redness or swelling ever and avoiding those activities always removes pain.
-A few months later I noticed my left elbow was clicking (without pain) when it never did before. It also has a mild crepitus sensation when I contract it fully. Never any pain, redness or swelling.
-A few months later I noticed both my shoulders were clicking in ways they didn't before. And a week ago my right shoulder clicked rather loudly, and it was followed by pain for a few days, and now my shoulder clicks even more and feels a little unstable. Couple of days later, exact same thing happens to my left shoulder. So now I have two unstable feeling shoulders that click a lot (with a little pain). Never any redness or swelling, and no cause I can identify. Ultrasound and XRay showed normal joints, with a tentative diagnosis of impingement - however, on reading a little more I think there is a high probability I have somehow torn the cartilage in both shoulders (because my symptoms match exactly to a SLAP tear).
So, in summary, the following joints of my body are currently affected, and seemingly all permanently:
-All of my fingers
-Right wrist (permanent cartilage injury)
-Right ankle
-Left elbow
-Both shoulders
I have had about 4 or 5 blood tests for the spectrum of autoimmune diseases over the past year or two - absolutely nothing showing. My blood work has always been perfect.
But here I am left wondering what on Earth is going on my with my body. I'm 26 and in good shape, yet most of my main joints now seemingly have some kind of permanent arthritis. What is confusing to me is the arthritis acts like osteoarthritis in that there has been no signs of inflammation and gets worse with use, but at the same time surely I am too young for something like osteoarthritis? And surely my joint problems are too widespread for osteoarthritis? But on the other side of coin, some kind of autoimmune arthritis would fit my demographic better and explain why it is so systemic, but I have had no signs of inflammation or positive blood tests?
Can anyone shed any light on this?
Thank you so much