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Date: 26.05.2011
From: ANT

Subject: osteo or ra??? please help?

hi all, my name is ant and have posted several times on here and ive had RA for 2 years!
my mum has just been to her rheumy with symptons the same as what i had, achy hands, feet, shoulders, arms,neck legs etc her last rhe factor came in at 37,shes been told this was not high even though i thought any thing over 20ish was, which is what mine were wen i was diagnosed? stiff at night she cant turn over, morning stiffness which is agony, all the typical symptons of RA! Her rheumy was not really interested in her and just looked at her hands and feet and not the other areas that hurt then diagnosed osteo which i thought was wear and tear??
my question is how can she have osteo or wear n tear in

almost every joint in her body at exactly the same time? surely this is not correct?
she also mentioned a rash on her body that she has, which again her rheumy was not interested in!! she was given a steroid injection in her bum and told if it works she has RA if it dont its osteo? strange as that was the opposite for me i had one in my bum and that didnt work and i had RA?
she now has to wait another 6 weeks to go back which is so annoying, why dont some doctors realise the pain ur in and that waiting constantly is only making things worse for u??
she has not even being given any meds yet???
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Date: 26.05.2011
From: kazzie

Subject: Re: osteo or ra??? please help?

i would of thought 37 was high enough to be in pain i think thats bout what i was when got diogsnoed .co codomol help me with the pain and amatripline at night helps the nerve pain .i would go back gp and ask for pain relief till see rhumy again. hope that helps
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Date: 27.05.2011
From: Maz

Subject: Re: osteo or ra??? please help?

Diagnosis for RA is usually made from a whole collection of symptoms, not just one thing such as a positive RF.

From my knowledge, as someone with osteo (courtesy of a previous lifetime of punishing my body) it would be highly unusual if osteo developed in every joint, it usually develops in joints that have suffered some pounding, ie ankles, knees, hips. Osteo is deemed to be present when there is evidence that the cartilage has worn away between the joints.

Must say I have never heard of anyone over here saying that the results of a a steroid injection will indicate whether someone has RA or OA, what a strange thing to say.

I suggest your mum goes to her own GP & asks for some anti-inflammatories & pain relief tablets for the meantime.

I know my GP wouldn't allow one of his patients to live in pain if he could help it !!
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Date: 27.05.2011
From: KayJay

Subject: Re: osteo or ra??? please help?

Maz funnily enough the Rhuemie told me that if the Steroid injection didn't work then I had Inflammatory Arthritis. So they gave me Plaquenil after 10 months of taking that I had an Isotope scan then Rhuemie told me I didn't have IA !! and they had mis diagnosed !! and I had Fibromyalgia and Osteoarthritis [ which I had already known about AND diagnosed with from my Chiroprator and GP years BEFORE !! ] he also told me that there was only Amytriptyline for Fibro then my GP said NO there is also Gabapentin !! I hope I amd lucky enough to never have to go back to our Rhuemies ever again !!
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Date: 30.05.2011
From: Dilizjo

Subject: Re: osteo or ra??? please help?

Hi Ant, I was diagnosed with RA a couple of months ago even though through research over the last few years of constant pain and fatigue I already knew. After many visits to GPs who said it was most probably OA and never listened and actually heard what I was saying to them I was finally referred to a specialist who did the usual blood tests that I had had many times, the RF always coming back normal. at my next appt he diagnosed that I actually had RA and it was quite aggressive, I asked him how he had determined this conclusion even though my RF had always been normal and he said there was another test that GPs didn't have access to that verified the diagnosis.... ask about this as in my (unqualified)opinion your mum's RF is on the high side anyway.
Hope everything goes ok:)
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