Hi. I have RA and fibromyalgia. My blood test are coming bk ok even though I'm still in loads of pain. Does that mean my RA has gone away

[jaqi1]

Has ra gone away

[girli1111]

I seem to be in a similar situation. My bloods are pretty good, but still exhausted and in pain. I had my 6 monthly rheumatology meeting today, saw rheumatoid nurse rather than consultant, and the opinion formed is that a lot of my pain is more indicative of fibromyalgia. I feel a bit low about this to be honest...

[jaqi1 in reply to girli1111]

Yes me to. I just don't understand it all.

[helixhelix]

Pain can be caused by inflammation that doesn't show up in blood tests (sub-clinical inflammation), by damage that has already been done to your joints, and also from fibromyalgia. Depending on where the pain is there are also other possibilities such as normal wear and tear arthritis, and neuropathy that can be quite common in people with auto-immune diseases too.

So yes you can be in pain with normal blood tests. I've been in remission nearly all the time for years now, and have steady blood markers, but still flare and have pain.

So your RA hasn't gone away, but may have gone into remission - i.e. it's gone quiet. Some people are lucky enough to have permananet remission to the extent that they can slowly stop taking the drugs. However for most of us the RA only stays quiet while we still take the drugs and the minute we stop it we reappear.

[dbestdeb]

No. I have perfect blood tests every time. My rheumatologist said that it is pretty common with RA because the tests don’t measure pain. She ordered a different blood test called Vectra and that one showed my inflammation to be very high, causing her to change my treatment to a more aggressive plan. Everyone is different and the doctors are still learning. Best wishes!.

[Hidden in reply to dbestdeb]

Yeah - The Vectra DA is a pretty definitive test for RA. I had a similar situation. It looked by the 'usual' tests that I was either very low RA or in remission, but the Vectra said no - severe and aggressive. As my mother in law would say.. At least I felt vindicated when I am complaining about the pain...

[dbestdeb in reply to Hidden]

Exactly how it made me feel! My doctor has never seemed to doubt me and yet I still felt vindicated by the Vectra result. Lol

[Hidden in reply to dbestdeb]

Yeah - There is just the tiniest bit of doubt there until something certain comes around..

[girli1111 in reply to dbestdeb]

Are you in UK ou US? I’ve not heard of vectra.

[dbestdeb in reply to girli1111]

I’m in the US.

[cheshcat in reply to dbestdeb]

I had the Vectra test too and showed high.

[cheshcat]

What blood tests? I don't think they usually keep testing for RA? Do you mean your inflammation tests? I have blood work every 3 months. It's usually pretty good.