Hello from Meeee

Meeee

A big hello to All,
My name is Colin I am 45 I have had joint pains since I was about 25. I used to go to the doctors about them, He would do a blood test and tell me nothing was wrong and if they continued take some ibuprofen. As you can imagine this was a bit disheartening so I stopped going.
About 5 years ago I moved house and switched doctors, I thought I would see the new doctors and see if he could shed any light on my pains. Surprise surprise exactly the same response as the last doctor. I even booked in to see a different doctor at the surgery and he also told me nothing was wrong. About 2 years ago I had a minor op and the anesthetist noticed that I could not bend my wrist anymore, So I went back to the doc again and he sent me for some x-rays apparently I have no cartilage in my wrist however the doctor did not seem that bothered and left it at that.

Anyway recently I noticed that my big toe on my right foot has started bending in which is causing me problems walking, so off I went to the docs again. Funnily enough he said that it’s not much of a problem and to take some ibuprofen for the pain, I insisted that he send me for x-rays which he reluctantly did. The radiographer wrote back to him telling him I should see a rumatoligist. So now I am now on the waiting list to see one.

Since the beginning of this year I have noticed that nearly every joint in my body now clicks apart from my left knee. Which is all a bit depressing really currently my neck and lower back are giving me a great deal of pain, my shoulders, el bows and right knee click and oddly the outside part of the top of my femur hurt to.

Well that’s my story anyway.

Colin

Boomer13

Hello Colin and welcome!

Sorry to hear you have been left suffering with dismal symptoms for so long. Thank goodness you have finally been referred to a rheumatologist.

I hope you won't have to wait too long for an appointment and that they will finally give you a diagnosis and meds to help.

I'm also one that waited a very long time (now in 8th year) to be assessed by a rheum and finally have been diagnosed as psoriatic arthritic with overlap spondylitis, possibly AS.

Good luck, I hope you get medical help soon. In the meantime there are very many helpful, supportive people here that know much about the various rheumatic diseases.

Anna

stickywicket

I can only echo Boomer's comments, Colin. It's good that you will now see a rheumatologist. Please let us know how you get on. And do join in anywhere.

barbara12

Hi Colin and a warm welcome from meeee... I love the user name
Its good that your are being seen by the right people...anyhow you have come to the right place for info and support so I do hope to see you posting more very soon.

Meeee

Thanks for the kind works, I have a an appointment with the rheumatologist on the 5th November, I am not sure there will be a lot he can do and i Will probably just get sent away with some pain killers.

For the last few months my entire body seems to be getting worse, I have noticed that over the last couple of days my neck has started clicking as well.

In an attempt to help with the joint clicking and pain i bought a Book a few months ago called eat to beat arthritis which basically lists which foods can make it worse and which can help. So far however changing my diet seems to have made no difference, also a lot of the stuff in the book seems to be contradicted on other websites so really I am non the wiser on which foods may help and which will make it worse.

If anyone has got any good sources of info or can recommend a book or 2 please let me know.

Thanks

Meeee

dreamdaisy

Hello, it's nice to meet you and I hope we can help. The positive news is that you finally have a referral to a rheumatologist and hopefully he will be able to discover what exactly is going on with you. There are around 200 forms of auto-immune arthritis and it can take time to discover what is happening but the meds generally remain the same; if you are prescribed some I hope they help. I wish you well and please let us know how you get on, yes? DD

stickywicket

Meeee wrote:

I have a an appointment with the rheumatologist on the 5th November, I am not sure there will be a lot he can do and i Will probably just get sent away with some pain killers.

I can see you have good reason to be negative, Colin, but I hope this won't happen. For a start, if you have an auto-immune form of arthritis, it will not be painkillers that the rheumatologist prescribes but a Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drug (DMARD). GPs can't prescribe these. They deal with Osteoarthritis and pain.

As for diet - it's a good idea and a healthy one will benefit any form of arthritis but I'm deeply sceptical of any book or theory that claims to help 'arthritis'. Which type? There are many and they are different. Check out Arthritis Care's booklet on a Healthy Lifestyle. (Click on 'Publications and Resources' at the top of the page). That might help.