RA diagnosis after childbirth

[twinks1954]

Looking for advice please. My daughter had her second baby and he is 9 months old now. For last few months she has pain suffering with pain in feet knees hands and elbows and went to her gp and he said looks like she has Post Partum Arthritis which is very common but didnt do any tests. Couple of weeks ago she went back to gp and had blood tests which have come back as showing her rheumatoid level is raised and booked appointment to see Rheumatologist Consultant which isnt till 17th December. Does it look like she has RA

[Simba1992]

Hello twinks,

Your daughters symptoms after childbirth do not necessarily mean RA even though RF raised. I think it would be important for her to check her estrogen / progesterone balance as well as thyroid. It is not uncommon after childbirth that you may find problems there and the symptoms infact do resemble RA symptoms. Good luck, I hope you find help soon. Simba

[bpeal1]

I was diagnosed nearly 18 months after giving birth but had symptoms from about 6 months. I visited my GP several times and kept being told it was hormonal etc. etc. Eventually a registrar at the GP’s referred me to a Rheumatologist. It’s great that your daughter’s GP has referred her to an expert so quickly. If a young female is going to get RA it is most commonly after childbirth. However, there is a whole host of things that it could be and an expert is the best person to work out what’s going on.