Which Artritis

[SunnyWorld]

😔one of my fingers really swelled up after painting a long fence it was so sore. Then a year later it started in the joint in the top of my thumb near my wrist. UK doctor said arthritis and test was negative for RA. Went abroad just before lockdown and doctor said RA without the R factor? He offered different medications but after reading side effects I took none. I don't want to accept it's RA how can he be sure. What pain can anyone describe that has RA. I can feel it in other places now. Feel like I will be in a wheelchair by next year.

[DorsetLady]

Have you looked at this to get an idea of what type of arthritis you may have -

versusarthritis.org/#main

..and if the choice is be in a wheelchair or take medication I know which I’d take…

..not being flippant -have has one knee, one hip and one shoulder replaced because of osteoarthritis -but did take medication prior to those .

[SunnyWorld in reply to DorsetLady]

Omg that's extreme 😳 I understand what you are saying. I just didn't want to take those meds if it wasn't going to help.

[DorsetLady in reply to SunnyWorld]

Well you won’t know until -A, “they” have worked out what you’ve actually got, and

B. you try the meds… but you need answer to A. first, which is sometimes the most difficult part😊

Having been on steroids for another illness -and a few months at v high doses, I appreciate you don’t want to be on meds if not necessary, but sometimes they are.

Good luck with finding out what you have.

[SunnyWorld in reply to DorsetLady]

Thankyou

[Happyrosie]

As far as I’ve seen both from comments here and elsewhere in the world outside Health Unlocked, even consultants find it hard to differentiate between types of arthritis. For example ankylosing spondylitis takes eleven years on average to correctly diagnose.

Yes it can be RA even without the R factor. Or it might be menopausal if you are the right sex and age.

Have a browse through websites of one or more of the various charities who specialise in arthritis such as Arthritis Action, Arthritis Now.

[SunnyWorld in reply to Happyrosie]

I will thankyou

[piglette]

I was a trustee of Arthritis Care and there were a lot of young people with rheumatoid arthritis who were members. They were were rather condemning of people with osteo arthritis who had a ‘stiff finger’. If you have arthritis there are a lot of things that can be done with things like hip and knee replacements and even several other joints if it gets really bad.

Arteritis is totally different. Arteritis refers to inflammation of your arteries that damages your blood vessel walls and reduces blood flow to your organs. There are several types.

[SunnyWorld in reply to piglette]

It started with one finger but has moved to various places.

[piglette in reply to SunnyWorld]

What was the arteritis about or am I getting muddled? What drugs did the doctor offer you? What was the diagnosis, some sort of arthritis?

[SunnyWorld in reply to piglette]

He just RA without R factor. Can't remember the meds would have to hunt the paperwork out. But was for RA

[piglette in reply to SunnyWorld]

If you're seronegative for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), you may or may not have RA. It can make it harder to get an RA diagnosis. Being seronegative for RA means that a blood test doesn't find certain antibodies your body typically makes when you have the condition. Your doctor is assuming you have RA although that may not be one hundred per cent correct it could be something else. Where is the pain?

[SunnyWorld in reply to piglette]

Hands, wrists, knees and random other places. I read after having injections it can make auto immune conditions worse. Doctors have admitted it. I have to agree. After my injections mine was much worse.

[piglette in reply to SunnyWorld]

What injections have you had?

[SunnyWorld in reply to piglette]

I didn't say arteritis it was an error obv!

[DorsetLady in reply to SunnyWorld]

Your heading “Which Artritis” may have caused confusion - piglette is also on another forum (same as me) - which is about Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Giant Cell Arteritis..

[SunnyWorld in reply to DorsetLady]

I noticed my error. I'm good at spelling normally 🙂 😂

[DorsetLady in reply to SunnyWorld]

Not necessarily your fault - Predictive text has a lot to answer for!

[piglette in reply to SunnyWorld]

I realised that it was an error after I had replied!!

[SunnyWorld in reply to piglette]

Thankyou for you info x

[SunnyWorld]

😂 I should have checked

[CagneysMum]

Dont know if this will help your determination but from what I understand (happy to be corrected) rheumatoid arthritis is more usually a symmetrical disease. So commonly both wrists … knees….hands etc would be affected. It’s possible that one joint may be more badly affected than the other but not typical that only one joint is impacted at all.

[SunnyWorld in reply to CagneysMum]

That's interesting. Being symmetrical. Apart from the random finger it is hands in same place and both wrists and both knnes

[Mishkasmum]

Are you a man or woman? Have you recently had a marina coil?I developed arthritis symptoms but had no markers for inflammation. Have not had serious flare up since having coil removed. I would get arthritis in various joints and then it would abate often in thumb and fingers but mainly my knees which would swell up and not be able to walk crying in pain.

[SunnyWorld in reply to Mishkasmum]

Woman and too old for a coil