Advice on how arthritis starts???

[DISC]

Hi, suffer from Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, have done all my life but have been suffering with the pain for nearly 15 years. I also suffer from severe gastroparesis. I have been told that I propbably have fibromyalgia also. The pain in my joints is so severe now that in the mornings I can't use my hands. They are so painful. They burn and feel swollen during the night. My feet, knees and ankles also throb and it is painful to walk on them. Now my ebows and shoulder is causing increasing problems. Whenever I read about arthritis, it mentions swollen joints, but my joints aren't malformed, so how soon does that occur. When you first have the condition what are the symptoms and how did you get diagnosed? I would appreciate any help as I am worried about what is the cause of my joint pain.

[spider555]

I have the symptoms of arthritis but the blood tests are normal.

[DISC in reply to spider555]

Hi... so have you been diagnosed with anything? What does your doctor say it is?

[spider555 in reply to DISC]

First one said sjogrens syndrome. Dry eyes, dry mouth. Second one fibromyalgia.

[cyberbarn]

There are different types of arthritis, and for some, like osteoarthritis there is no blood test, while for others there is.

Some arthritis especially in the early days, doesn't show joint malformation. It is only later that the joints with osteoarthritis start to develop knobs, and with rheumatoid arthritis, if the joints have degenerated, then that is a long time coming.

There are other things that can factor in to cause the pain. Pain is a psychosocial cultural phenomenon as well as a physical thing. some people like Keith Richards, the guitarist, has very knobbly hands but no pain and still plays guitar all the time, just a bit slower. Other people might have a pain condition such as central sensitisation, which causes all the pain they have to be felt more.

Have you read up on the natural history of hEDS? For some people the condition does progress to include more pain and disability. So it could just be the 'normal' course of EDS causing the problems along with just plain old getting older.

[rick1945]

I was told that heavy manual work all my life caused mine in my neck, back ,shoulders ,rib cage, elbows, hands, hip joints, knees, ankles/feet,

Have you had a heavy manual job lifting 20 stone bags and climbing ladders with them on your shoulders,

One boss I worked for used to get trucks bringing 10 tons of HOT bags on cement straight from the cement works and if you could not carry three one cwt ( 112 lbs ) when unloading you were shown the gate, and we had to carry them about a 100 feet before stacking them 10 high in the cement store all for £4.00 a week.