Rheumatoid arthritis questions

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fairydust81
fairydust81 Member Posts: 9
edited 18. Mar 2010, 12:01 in Chat to our Helpline Team archive
Hi there,

This is my first time posting here so I will try and keep it brief. This is going to sound really funny, me coming here for advice but sometimes it helps to hear from others.

I am off to my GP in a couple of weeks to have some blood tests done (RF and ANA) due to my symptoms but I guess I just wanted to ask someone here and see what you think - obviously I know you can't diagnose me or offer medical advice, well it's probably just me venting and getting things off my chest (I haven't told anyone about my symptoms apart from my GP).

I am 28 years old and 1 year post-hysterectomy. Over the last 6 months I have been getting increasing symptoms, it started off just my one shoulder aching, this then changed to bilateral shoulder pain. Then I started to suffer with bilateral knee stiffness and pain, in particular in a morning but also if I have been sat down for a while then stand up, I have aching elbows, wrists and hands (with my little finger joints being particularly painful), my ankles and toes ache and hurt to move too, this all seems to be getting worse, especially over the last couple of weeks. I have also started to have increased fatigue and just general malaise - obviously at my age I want to be as active as possible but finding it difficult at the moment. I spent a lot of time on morphine prior to my hysterectomy and I don't want to start using painkillers again, I am holding off for now and trying to put up with the pain etc but it's getting very difficult to ignore.

Sorry if it seems I'm moaning, I just needed to write it all down and vent before I have the blood tests done...guess I'm scared

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  • valval
    valval Member Posts: 14,911
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    of course you r scared who would not be but you do know that blood tests do not always show if you have ra. look on this sight there loads of information to help you even if you have the meds are very good so do not get to down good luck hope you do not have it but if you have there r lots of people on here to suport you
    val
  • barbara12
    barbara12 Member Posts: 21,281
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Hello fairydust
    Just to say a very warm welcome to this forum, I do hope you get the answerers you want, you will get lots of support on this site ,and I hope to see you posting more very soon.
    You take care
    Barbara xx
    Love
    Barbara
  • helpline_team
    helpline_team Posts: 3,510
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Hi Fairydust, thank you for posting and welcome to the forum. It is absolutely fine to come here to talk about things, gain other peoples experiences on things as well as asking questions. As u mentioned we can’t answer any medical questions but we can try and help with information and support, not only from us but also our very supportive forum members.

    As mentioned it is going to be a scary time until you find out what your bloods are doing and what may be going on. You are right- just talking about things will help with how your feeling. This time period can be the most anxious times and so it is not surprising you are worried about things. It’s also understandable why you want to stay off of painkillers and want to be out and about; you may find our ‘Coping with pain’ booklet helpful as it looks at different ways to manage pain:
    http://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/PublicationsandResources/Listedbytype/Booklets

    You can always give us a ring if you want to have a chat about things.
    Best wishes
    Jaslin
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