RA

[Angex05]

I saw a private rheumatologist last night who thinks my PMR has turned into RA. He has taken me off my steroids totally to see what happens, I was taking 4mg. This morning I woke up and my hands were swollen and very sore but I’ve been moving around for a couple of hours now and the swelling is subsiding. I’m not sure whether to see the rheumatologist today, as he told me to see him if the swelling came back, it’s nothing like it was before. Could my PMR have turned into RA? Who knows.

This is when they first started swelling, not as bad as this today

[Angiejnz]

Is looks painful, take care and yes, I'd be back to the rheumy. Good luck

[yogabonnie]

I have no idea. But I think, when the swelling is down you should take off the rings for a while. I had swollen finger and the rings were pulled off before an operation and joint was damaged. But only of course if you can bear it emotionally! Good luck hope someone comes on here with the right advice!

[Angex05 in reply to yogabonnie]

I took the ring off as soon as the swelling went down a bit

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Or it never was PMR but early LORA which can appear identical and will also respond to pred.

Watch out for how you feel having stopped pred so suddenly even if it was a fairly low dose. Your adrenal function may still be dodgy.

[Angex05 in reply to PMRpro]

What would be the symptoms of adrenal function failure?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Angex05]

Starting to feel very unwell! They are the same as Addison's disease really:

nhs.uk/conditions/addisons-...

[Angex05]

I think It was definitely PMR, this is totally different as it’s affecting my joints and not my muscles. I’ve been down to 1/2 mg before so I think my adrenal function is ok

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Angex05]

It probably is - but it can take up to a year to be really reliable and any unexpected stress can make you ill.

[Angex05]

I’ve just seen my rheumatologist and he’s confirmed I have RA and he said I don’t have PMR anymore. Going to start me on methotrexate in a couple of weeks

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Angex05]

All the best then - what a pain! I do hope you tolerate mtx well.