Concerned I may have arthritis?

stevestrat
stevestrat Member Posts: 3
edited 26. Jan 2013, 08:51 in Living with Arthritis archive
Hi there, I haven't been diagnosed with arthritis, haven't seen a doctor yet but I am a bit worried. My mother passed away recently, she was crippled by rheumatoid arthritis (registered disabled) so I am fully aware how devastating it can be. I am a bit concerned that some form of arthritis is raising its head in me! I am just over 50 and I am getting pain in various joints, the worst of which are my left elbow and wrist, incidentally both were damaged in a motorcycling accident when I was younger and dafter! The elbow is distractingly painful right from the first movement when I wake up, it is aggravated considerably by lifting anything heavy or using the arm more than usual. The wrist has been a problem for longer but the level of pain, dull ache to bad, depends what I'm doing with it. I play guitar and twisting the wrist is uncomfortable to say the least and if I persist the pain level rises considerably and subsides very, very slowly, often into the following day.

About the same time as the wrist pain started I began having problems with the thumb, first finger and middle finger of my left hand, they "lock" painfully and can only be freed by moving it with my right hand. When I do free which ever one is "locked" it wants to return to the "locked" position, I have to hold it for a while, even then it will quite often return to the "locked" position several times and will remain painful for a considerable time after. When the thumb "locks" it's across the palm so that the tip is in line with the middle finger. When the first finger "locks" it's straight but at an angle of about 30 degrees towards the palm and angled towards the thumb. When the middle finger "locks" again it's towards the palm, to a lesser angle than the first finger but again slightly to the side. Weirdly, one thing that really triggers the "finger locking syndrome" is washing the dishes, don't know if it is the hot water or holding heavy items in my left hand that causes it :?

I keep threatening to see a doctor but don't like bothering them if it's nothing, maybe I'm not sure if I want to know the answer as I'm only too aware of what arthritis did to my mother. At the moment the joint pain and locking fingers are an annoying inconvenience but I'm concerned it could be the sign of something more.

Comments

  • Sparkys6887
    Sparkys6887 Member Posts: 58
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Please get along to see your doctor and ask for an appointment with a Rhumatologist asap. Treatment of arthritis can be very successful if treated early. You don't have to be disabled!!
  • hileena111
    hileena111 Member Posts: 7,099
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi
    Welcome to the forum
    You will have to go and see your GP.......ask him for a referral to the hospital.
    I'm sorry we have no medical knowledge here. Juste our own experiences
    of various kinds of arthritis........|If you have it ...it depends what kind of arthritis. All kinds are treated differently.
    Love
    Hileena
  • elnafinn
    elnafinn Member Posts: 7,412
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Steve

    I am sorry to hear about your mother.

    I feel the best idea would be to see your gp. From what you have told us in your posting you will not be wasting the gps time at all, if that is what you are thinking. I understand that you are probably not keen to go because of what you may hear too but surely it is best to have a diagnosis as quickly as possible so that you know what is going on and it can be dealt with in some way or other or at least you will be aware of the situation and have choices to make.

    Elna x
    The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.

    If you can lay down at night knowing in your heart that you made someone's day just a little bit better, you know you had a good day.
  • constable
    constable Member Posts: 2,115
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Steve, first off, welcome to the forum. They are all lovely people on here and will do whatever they can to help. I am with everyone else. You do need to see your doctor. And as already said, you will not be wasing anyone's time at all.

    I am sorry about you're mum. Get that appointment and you can get yourself on the road to a diagnosis and treatment if needed.

    Keep in touch and let us know how you get on.
    Karen xx
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hello Steve and welcome from me, too.

    Whatever this is, it's not 'nothing' and it's well worth 'bothering the doc' about. It could be OA that has set in owing to your earlier accident but, when (note when not if :wink: ) you see the doc, please tell him about your mother's RA as only a rheumatologist can treat that and the meds these days (It might have been different in your mother's time) are very different from those for OA which the GP himself would deal with.

    Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know :) Please let us know how you get on.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • villier
    villier Member Posts: 4,426
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Steve

    As the rest of them has said please see your GP the quicker you get a diagnosis the better for you, sorry to hear about your mum, keep us posted how you go...............tc.............Marie xx
    Smile a while and while you smile
    smile another smile and soon there
    will be miles and miles of smiles
    just because you smiled I wish your
    day is full of Smiles
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hello Steve, firstly may I offer my condolences, my husband lost his mum last October and it's a raw time. Secondly, it's nice to meet you and I hope we can offer support and information.

    From what you have told us this is not 'nothing' by any means and the first port of call has to be your GP. It could be osteo arthritis (that can result after joint trauma) or it could be the beginnings of RA (there is a known genetic aspect to that as it comes under the heading of auto-immune arthritis) but he has to be the one you see first. Make sure you tell him everything - no glossing over and being a 'brave' boy :wink: - and I hope he can shed some light on this. It sounds as though your mum had a tough time with her RA but everyone's arthritis is unique to them. I wish you well. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • stevestrat
    stevestrat Member Posts: 3
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I'm afraid I haven't seen the doc yet because I'm a typical guy, don't want to bother a doctor unless my leg is hanging off but I intend phoning next week.

    What brought matters to a head and made me start asking questions was the other night. I was washing the dishes and my first finger locked, it locked numerous times over the next several hours, it has never done that before. When it finally stopped locking it remained painful even after taking painkillers. I can still feel a dull ache in the knuckle even now, about 36 hours later, again, never had that before.

    Thanks for the condolences for my mother, 2012 is a year I am glad to see the back of. I lost both parents within weeks of each other, my father had a massive stroke but he was as strong as an ox and hung on for 12 days in hospital never regaining consciousness. Because of my mother's condition he had done everything around the house, my wife and I only live a couple of miles away and we spent most of our time with my mother but we just couldn't replace my father and my mother took her own life just 10 days after his funeral. My wife and I were both diagnosed with PTSD, depression . . . . councilling, "happy pills"! It still doesn't take much to bring it all back.

    As if I hadn't had enough, I inherited my father's car, his pride and joy. I had it a matter of weeks when I was driving along a local road, a car came straight out of a side road and hit the offside front, my father's pride and joy was a write off! That really hurt as I had felt a real connection with him through that car.
  • tkachev
    tkachev Member Posts: 8,332
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I'm so sorry to read you lost both parents within a short space of time and the car accident that followed. I hope you can find a suitable time to pop along to the GP's. It could be from the old injury or onset arthritis but the GP can sort out a few tests to check.

    Elizabeth
    Never be bullied into silence.
    Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
    Accept no ones definition of your life

    Define yourself........

    Harvey Fierstein
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Oh Steve, that is a truly sad tale to read. What an extraordinary time you faced but you are getting through it. Please contact the GP next week, he needs to know what is going on and so do you. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Steve, you’ve had a truly dreadful time of it. A father’s sudden death would be enough to give many a person depression but to also lose your mother, in such sad circumstances, so soon after is just unimaginable. I guess the car being a write-off was a really cruel blow which underlined these tragedies. You are somehow managing to deal with all this and be upfront about it and that takes so much courage.

    I can understand your not wanting to see the doc but this isn’t trivial and you need a diagnosis because, if it is some auto-immune form of arthritis, you need the meds that will put the brakes on it. I’ve experienced the locking in fingers and it’s not at all pleasant. I’m glad you intend to get an appointment.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright