Date: 28.02.2013
From: Kate Forster
|
Subject: Need some advice from those who know!
Hello everyone,
My name is Kate and I have some concerns I may have something like RA wrong with my joints. I am looking for advice as to wether I should go to the docs and push for a referral to a specialist or not.
My story in short is:
I have had intermittent joint pain for quite a few years but have always put it down to working to much (I am a waitress) or bad posture or because my joints are too flexible, but I don't really think I should be getting such stiff achy joints at the age of 27.
I have a bunion on my right foot which is quite often very painful, it started about a year ago and it now feels like my left foot is starting to go the same way now, although I can't be sure! I quite often get painful swollen feet and achy pains in random joints and have always had very clickey crackey joints, this has also been getting worse and in more joints.
For the last week I have been getting mild pain and stiffness in my feet, ankles, wrists, hands (especially knuckles) elbows, shoulders and neck pretty much all the time. A few days ago I got a really bad burning pulsing pain in my ankles as I rushed to work, agony! They calmed down by the end of the day. And for the last week my left knee feels really stiff especially after sitting down for awhile and I get sharp stabbing pains in it often, I also get this pain in a few other joints but not badly.
I have a long family history of arthritis on both sides of my family and my grandma on my mums side had rheumatoid arthritis. Could this be the very beginning or RA should I be worried?
Thank you to any one who takes the time to give advice, sorry it wasn't so short in the end!
|
Date: 28.02.2013
From: bsk
|
Subject: Re: Need some advice from those who know!
Hi Kate, none of us can tell you whether it is RA or not but you could ask your GP for some blood tests and a referral to a rheumatologist if they flag up any inflammation.
|
Date: 28.02.2013
From: Colin W
|
Subject: Re: Need some advice from those who know!
hi Kate , welcome to the forum , if you have family history of RA , I would do like bsk said & ask your GP for blood test , they can check for Rheumatiod Factor & inflammation markers maybe you just need some anti-inflammatory drug to settle it down a bit , hope you feel better soon
|
Date: 28.02.2013
From: rhona
|
Subject: Re: Need some advice from those who know!
Hi Kate, Sorry to hear that you are having problems with your joints. It is difficult to say whether you could have arthritis or not. You really should go to your doctor and tell him about all the pains that you are getting and ask him to do some blood tests. There are so many different types of arthritis and inflammatory conditions but the only way to find out for sure if you had one of them would be to get checked out. You would not be bothering your doctor as that is what he is there for. I hope you don't have rheumatoid arthritis but if you do then remember the treatments for it are much better than they were when your grandmother had it. Take care and let us know how you get on.
|
Date: 28.02.2013
From: Kate Forster
|
Subject: Re: Need some advice from those who know!
Thanks guys I know I should probably go back and ask, I just don't know of I am making something out of nothing or if there is any not scary reason to get joint pain at my age. I don't want to seem like a hypercondriack and I have been back a few times already as I struggle with deppresion, I guess I am worried I will come across as always needing something to be wrong, as my doc already recommended against testing because of false positives. I don't want to make a fuss but I also understand that early diagnosise is important so I guess I will go back, wish me luck!
Thanks again for advice hopefully it's nothing serious.
|
Date: 28.02.2013
From: bsk
|
Subject: Re: Need some advice from those who know!
HI Kate, you can't get a 'false positive' for inflammation markers. If they are up it means something is happening in your body. You can, I think, get a positive RF result without it meaning you have active RA. However, no consultant worth his salt would treat you if you had no evidence at all of having active arthritis. So don't worry on that account and don't let your gp put you off.
Best of luck.
|
Date: 28.02.2013
From: rhona
|
Subject: Re: Need some advice from those who know!
I think we all feel a bit like that Kate in that we don't want to bother our doctor but it's very silly. If we are worried about something then we should go and if there is nothing wrong then that is great. Doctors are well paid for what they do so go and get them to check you out. If you keep worrying you will make yourself ill.
Good luck.
|
