Dear Imhawk,
First let me give you a huge welcome to HEALINGWELL. It's a great community here with people from all walks of life & all different arthritic, rheumatic & autoimmune diseases.
So wow, whatever is going on...is responding positively to steroids. That's a good thing because many physicians will ultimatley make a diagnoses by what medications this inflammatory process responds to. With that...write down every medication that has worked to decrease these flare up; write down what hasn't worked; keep track of the days it happens and what goes on in that day.
Physical objective symptoms are key in finding the right diagnoses. Blood labs are soooo variable and can change, and since you're on steroids...they could have been positive, but showed negative due to the prednisone (steroids mask problems in the blood some times).
For me for example...it took several years to get a definitive diagnoses because many symptoms didn't match up w/ RA alltogether. But after a lot of trial and error...I got there eventually. And this is common because AI diseases are so complicated....hang in there.
Based on symptoms alone, sometimes could be enough to make a DX. Many RA pts have sero negative RF. Lupus patients sometimes have Lupus but negative ANA!
I don't have the symptoms you describe, but I hope you'll find someone more similar to share.
Keep a real tight journal on your body & swelling & pain to show the doc. The more specific the better for the doc.
When do you see your doc again?
Sincerely,
Erin