How to spot rheumatic nodules?

[Beverlady]

I have two non painful bumps on the back of my hand and bigger lump on my foot and toe but wonder if they are nodules, and wether it's a problem to have them anyway. I also don't understand the blood tests for inflammation, because mine are always normal but I have bad swelling and a lot of pain. I have positive rheumatoid factor and anti ccp test. Any information please x

[Beverley-NRAS]

Hi Beverlady,

Just had a read of your post. Sorry to hear that you are having such pain. I hope that I can help answer your questions. I have put a link below to our article on rheumatoid nodules for you to have a look at:

nras.org.uk/rheumatoid-nodules

Hope it answers your questions about your lumps. As to your question about your blood test results. The blood test that is ordered by the doctor in order to help establish the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is looking for the presence of two proteins in the blood. One of them is called rheumatoid factor (RF). The other test is called anti-CCP and is more recent. Although all hospitals perform RF tests not all carry out anti-CCP tests.

The presence of either of these tests may indicate that RA is present. However seropositivity is only one criterion of several that makes the diagnosis of RA likely. If the other criteria for the diagnosis are present then seropositivity is an additional clinching factor. A positive anti-CCP test is marginally stronger than positive RF test for the diagnosis.

You don't say what the other blood test is that you have had but based on the above then your results do show inflammation. I have put some links to our articles on blood tests below that you may like to look at:

nras.org.uk/laboratory-test...

nras.org.uk/seropositive-se...

Hope this helps you and I hope that you get some relief from the swelling and pain soon.

Regards

Beverley (NRAS Helpline)

[Beverlady in reply to Beverley-NRAS]

Hello Beverley,

Thank you so much for the information which I've found very interesting, what I was finding a bit confusing was that I have swelling and pain in my hands knees and ankles but yet my inflammatory blood test crp etc are all normal. Thanks again x Bev x