Some advice please

mummyb

I have been seeing my GP since last October because of symptoms of arthritis, he initially thought it was rheumatoid due to the symptoms and a rheumatoid factor of 51, however, when I went to rheumy they said it was osteo in my shoulders, neck and hands. I have continued to have symptoms in my feet which were diagnosed as OA about a month ago, my knees, wrists, fingers and elbows. I have this week had further xrays on my knees and hands/wrists (awaiting the results) I also had a further rheumatoid factor test this week and this has come back positive with a result of 98. Now I am confused again, what does this result mean, do I have rheumatoid arthritis or do I have osteo or both. This ongoing saga is driving me mad, I am awake at night, every night due to pain, am on 300mg tramadol slow release topped up with paracetamol. This morning I woke up with my left knee almst double in size, so I went to see GP who took a syringe full of fluid off the knee and then giving me a steroid injection into it. This evening my knee is back to how it was this morning and is very swollen again. Please can you shed any light on any of this for me or am I just playing a waiting game. Thanks for listening to/reading this. Brenda

speedalong

Hi Brenda, you poor thing - it is awful playing the waiting game. I'm sorry I can't shed any light on what of arther you have. Do you take anti-inflammatories too? Some of them help with pain as well as tackle the inflammation.

I hope the medics get to the bottom of what is going and give you some answers and decent treatment soon

Speedy

mummyb

Hi Speedy, thanks for your post, can't take andti inflamms due to asthma and I think this probably doesn't help the situation, I'm guessing it would be much more straightforward if I could. Reading my post back, it sounds like a bit of a rant, but I guess its a measure of how I feel about all of this. I want to say to arthur,right, I've met you now, I know what you do now please just go away and leave me to get on with my life. Unfortunately it aint that simple is it. I'm so glad that I have this place to just sound off at and don't know what I would do without all the fab support from all you guys, anyway thanks again, Speedy, hope you have a good day, love and best wishes, Brenda xx

helpline_team

Hi Brenda,

The time between diagnosis can be frustrating, particularly when you feel like you are being past from pillar to post by health professionals, so a rant is sometimes necessary.

Deciphering whether a individuals arthritis is an Inflammatory condition such as rheumatoid arthritis is often difficult to diagnose, as it can fluctuate, you may find our booklet ‘understanding arthritis’ useful: http://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/PublicationsandResources/Listedbytype/Booklets/main_content/UnderstandingbookletJune09.pdf

Its good to hear your finding support from the online community, remember you can always call us on our confidential free phone helpline to have a more detailed discussion.

Best Wishes
Adele