That annoys me, diagnosis should be clinical signs AND symptoms, not just one blood test, and 40% of RA patients are RF-. If you want to pursue, ask for and Anti-CCP test, they can be telling for RF- people that actually do have RA. One telling sign is RA is mostly symmetrical, Osteo is not. For instance, both knees and both hands vs osteo would be which ever knee and hand was used most.
Her Arthritis is floating. It may be in one or both hands one day, a couple days later a knee won't move for a couple days, then a shoulder, then her neck, back to her hands, then in a right foot and left knee, ect. It is debilitating, depressing, painful and she eats ibuprofen like skittles. Tried expensive meds but ibuprofen seems to be the only thing to take the edge off. The last few years have gotten very tough to mentally and emotionally stay in the game for her, now if sun sensitivity is a complication and she is already seasonal affected, I can't imagine the ride we will be on this winter.
Well a lot of the symptoms add up and the heat intolerance is one of the many. Mama Bear saw a new Dr at the advice of her primary Dr. Was just told on top of all her arthritis that she is now the proud owner of fibromyalgia too. SMH, will we ever catch a break.
Sorry to hear that Greenstick . Fibromyalgia is a tough syndrome to diagnose. Had a friend that went for 6-8 years looking for answers before she got diagnosed. Part of the difficulty was finding a doctor that believed it was something other than stress, or in her head. Hope she finds a way to manage it so it isn't too disruptive.
She has had symptoms for years and things really spiked a few years back when she had 4 surgeries in 1 1/2 years. She had many surgeries before that too, but that cluster really sent her in a tailspin. It is nice that finally we have a diagnosis put on paper to go with instead of "well I think it is but..." We try to not dwell on all the health issues that have went down the tubes the last 20 years, but it is difficult at times because our life is so absolutely altered by it. So many times we have fight to not fall in the pit of something we had no control of or choice in being all you can see, feel and live, while it seems like the rest of the world gets to go on living their "normal lives" whatever that may be while we barely seem to slug our way through this existence.
Greenstick Fibromyalgia is not fun at all. My wife has it and has had it for a number of years. She was on some good meds at the beginning but then developed kidney problems and most meds had to be stopped. She has her good days and bad days but is determined to keep going as best she can. As long as your wife can keep doing what she can and not overdue it, she should be able to keep going reasonably well.
What kinds of symptoms hit her the worst? Any tricks or tips? My wife maybe has 1 day a week that isn't too bad. Hands, feet, knees, hips, elbows, wrists, neck, shoulders, hands, you name it. So swollen that parts throb, sleeps maybe 1-2 hours at a time and maybe a total 4-5 hours a day, temperature sensitive, anxiety through the roof, frustrated beyond belief, fighting to try to get disability but going nowhere fast, ect.
