Puffy knees

Are you sure you don't have osteoarthritis? It's different from RA and would cause the puffiness and other symptoms. I'm new to fibro but to my understanding it doesnt cause swelling.
Hopefully, some more educated will come along and say wether I'm wrong or not. I just don't think fibro causes swelling or joint pain. I know it can have the pain travel so it feels like its coming from the joint.

Has he done xrays?

Thanks for the replies!

I do have a very strong family history of osteoarthritis, but my doctor said it was unlikely because I’m under 30 and it developed quite fast. My knee was fine until mid-last year, my other knee was fine until mid this year. My hands have only really been a noticeable problem this year.

I’ve had fibromyalgia and CFS for over ten years (well over 10 years, refuse to count over 10, lol). But the aches HAVE changed over the past few years. I’m not getting the muscle aches so much anymore, but I’m getting a real ache in the joints.
At the moment it’s my knees, my right ankle and the lower knuckles on the right toes, knuckles on both hands, my wrists and my elbows (and my sternum… but that might be asthma). Wow that list is longer than I thought…
The only things that are swelling are my knees and one knuckle on my finger.

The repeated tests have been for the rheumatoid factor, the c reaction protein, and the inflammation one (forget what that ones called.) They’re all perfectly normal.
As for x-rays the only x-rays or ultrasounds I’ve had done are of my sternum because it was freaking me out. They couldn’t find my sternum on the x-ray (seriously, the radiologist took 14 shots and still couldn’t see it) the ultra sound showed inflammation of the cartilage on the ribs, but not of the sternum.

My doctor’s left it up to me with how far we keep looking. I’m still deciding what I want to do.
I’m massively overworked and run down at the moment anyway, so I don’t really want to add the stress of testing at the moment. (Plus my pain is under reasonable control with Celebrex, so it’s lost its urgency a little bit, lol.)

Stupidly my main worry with continued testing is that everything keeps coming back negative leaving me with no answers about the changes.

I managed to get to yoga this morning (followed by the supermarket... I'm going to pay for this one.) Everything was fine this morning, now my left knees swollan, both ankels have puffed up, and my finger knuckles are red.
BUT I have loads of fresh fruit for the first time in ages :D

Couchtater, this may be a silly question, but how do you tell the difference between fibro pain and lupus pain?
I've been in heads downs bum up mode for so long that I'm a little bit to good at ignoring the niggles, so by the time the aches and pains set in it's so full blown it's radiating and it's hard to pin point. (Yoga is helping with that, gotta love body awareness, lol.)

That's actually a really good description. Thanks

I know when I get over tired, I feel sun burnt from the fibro (like head to toe, even my hair hurts to move) and there is a definite difference between the muscle aches I was getting (and am getting tonight now I'm tired) and the new pains popping up.
I think part of the problem is that I’ve had fibro for so long I’ve lost the “normal” point of reference. I can’t really describe the aches to clearly, because it’s like a healthy person describing what a leg feels like when there’s nothing wrong with it.
Then the doctor goes, “What do your joints feel like?” I say “They hurt.” He says, “So does everything else, it must be fibro.”
I got a little further being able to say that my fingers feel like they do a few minutes after you smash them with a hammer, so maybe the key to success here will be actually finding that vocabulary to adequately explain the pain.

This is why we need an objective pain messurement/description.
“Ah! You have level 6 type B pain!” “Oh, it looks like you have a level 7 of type D.”

Would make life so much easier. I mean really. Who’s idea was it to create an illness which creates pain, AND destroys your ability to think clearly enough to describe the pain to the doctor?

Madisun, I feel the "hammer smashing" feeling in my toes all of the time. Sometimes it's in my hands.
It's very aggrevating.