Need help on dealing with Possible OA, leg and arm pain

musimato

Hi ,
My name is Daniel, and I am 33 years old, I am really glad to have found this community.

My doctor suspects I have OA but the hurting is quickly spreading in other joints of the body.
Would really appreciate any thoughts.I have written my condition down here in case someone wants the details. Sorry for the lengthy post but I really needed to get as clear as possible.


I have been developoing pain in different joints since May 2015.
May 2017 : I start feeling some disconfort in the right knee and a few weeks later my left ankle starts
hurting and swelling. I went to see a rheumatism specialist, and he took some blood tests and Xray for
knee and ankle joints. They didn't see anything leading to RA and they thought it might be OA.

They prescribed some Glucosamine and pain killers but the swelling and hurting didn't really go away.After some
time though, the knee kind of calmed down but it dit hurt occasionaly.
I have been living with that basically for the last two years. Taking some Glucosamine + pain killers when
it hurts so much and trying to go easy on my joints.

Then the doctor suggested that I do a steroid injection on my ankle and it really did help a bit, the hurting went
down remarkably but the swelling stayed there.

Fast forward June 2017

I lifted a heavy box and next two days I feel my right hand wrist hurt, and it was swollen. It was a hand version of
my pain in the left ankle. Then towards August 2017, I start getting this itching feeling in both knees and they started
cracking so much when I make some movements.

I went back to see the doctor who prescribed more blood test. This time two things came out of normal range

CRP came out 5.4 out of a normal range of [0~3.0] and
a possible presence of HLA-B27. B27 of 39% and B7 of 45%.

The doctor still thought these are not indicative of any other disease and kept on insisting it was OA. I am starting
to suspect this is something more general as these days I also have some aches sometimes in the elbows and shoulders.
This is really starting to freak me out mainly because I still am not sure what it is I am dealing with .

Is there some kind of test that confirms it is OA ? As my doctor is just guessing based on my symptoms
Any of you have experienced the same things as I am experiencing ? I would really appreciate if you shared your experiences
and how you deal with this?

Thank you for your time.

Dan.

moderator

Welcome to Arthritis Care Forums, Dan, from the moderation team.

I am very sorry to hear you are struggling with getting a definitive diagnosis; this is not unusual as there are so many types. Many forum users will have had similar experiences and I am sure will be along to tell you of their experiences.
In the mean time I hope this information titled ‘Do I have Arthritis’ might help you a little:
https://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/do-i-have-arthritis

Also this information by Arthritis Research UK explains how Osteoarthritis is diagnosed specifically:

https://www.arthritisresearchuk.org/arthritis-information/conditions/osteoarthritis/diagnosis.aspx

As moderators we are here to help with any problems you may have using the message boards so feel free to send us a message if you need to.

I look forward to seeing you posting on the boards.

Best wishes


Ellen

musimato

moderator wrote:

Welcome to Arthritis Care Forums, Dan, from the moderation team.

I am very sorry to hear you are struggling with getting a definitive diagnosis; this is not unusual as there are so many types. Many forum users will have had similar experiences and I am sure will be along to tell you of their experiences.
In the mean time I hope this information titled ‘Do I have Arthritis’ might help you a little:
https://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/do-i-have-arthritis

Also this information by Arthritis Research UK explains how Osteoarthritis is diagnosed specifically:

https://www.arthritisresearchuk.org/arthritis-information/conditions/osteoarthritis/diagnosis.aspx

As moderators we are here to help with any problems you may have using the message boards so feel free to send us a message if you need to.

I look forward to seeing you posting on the boards.

Best wishes


Ellen

Thanks for the links, really helpful. Seems you also have a load of good information on arthritis here :
https://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/do-i-have-arthritis/publications

Going through them to see if i can know more about the condition.

Do you have any kind of online meetings where people share their experiences ? Something more real time or group chat somewhere where we can support each other, mostly emotional wise I mean.

musimato

Thanks for the helpful reply Ellen,

I am going through the information you provided and it is helpful. Thinking of incorporating exercise in my routine. Is there any kind of exercise recommended for the ankle, knee and wrist ?

moderator

Hi Dan

This is the link to Arthritis Care's information on exercise:

https://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/living-with-arthritis/exercise-and-arthritis

This one is Arthritis Research UK's:

https://www.arthritisresearchuk.org/arthritis-information/daily-life/exercise-and-arthritis.aspx

If you look on the left hand side it has specific information for different conditions.

This should also help you:

http://www.arthritisresearchuk.org/health-professionals-and-students/information-for-your-patients/exercise-sheets-and-videos.aspx

Let us know how you get on.

Best wishes

Ellen

stickywicket

Hello Daniel and welcome from me, too. It must be so frustrating not being sure what you're dealing with. Mine was a classic case of RA so none of that waiting and wondering.

On the plus side, your GP seems good and on the ball if you saw a rheumatologist so quickly. Unfortunately, arthritis can be an elusive beast and can take some time to be properly diagnosed. The raised CRP levels are an indication but only of inflammation, not necessarily of an inflammatory form of arthritis.

I think you just have to be patient and see what happens next. If there are more indications of an inflammatory form of arthritis you may be re-referred to the rheumatologist. Sometimes things can take a while before they become conclusive. Meanwhile, we are here to support and encourage you as much as we can.

dreamdaisy

I have a creaky foot in both camps, I began with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in 1997 and that led in time to OA (which my GP diagnosed in 2011). My inflammatory markers back in the day have been up in the 170s - my hospital regards anything between 0-20 as being in the normal range.

Inflammation has many causes and can be triggered, for example, by bruises. I know from reading on here that some with OA take both pain relief and an anti-inflammatory medication, both prescribed by their GP as they are the ones who deal with OA. Arthritis has no respect for age or gender, there is now a strain of thought that there is a genetic link to OA as there is with the auto-immune kinds: does anyone else in your family have OA? DD

musimato

I am amazed by how supportive you all have been to me. Can't THANK YOU enough. The hardest part for me was really the fear of the unknown. My wife is very supportive . But I really needed a community of people going through it as well so we can just support and deal with this together. Will be visiting this forum A LOT.

My mother has arthritis in the knees which started back when she turned 70, I also had my wrists swell and hurt for a long time back when I was 17. Medication didn't seem to help and I was on a lot of pain killers. But the hurting and swelling went away after some time.

I am slowly making my peace with this and trying to figure out best adjustments I can make to protect what is left of my joints. I am a Software Engineer, so I spend a lot of time sitting, trying talk walk pauses more, I also want to work on cutting down on weight and muscle strengthening exercises.

Will be sharing on my findings and LEARNING A LOT from you guys.

Again, thanks for all in this community.

stickywicket

We can't take away the pain (unfortunately ) but we do understand how it is so we can support each other and swap a few ideas.

I think you have some good plans re walking more, muscle strengthening exercises (start gently and build up slowly) and walking round more at work. If you're office-based your company should be able to help if you need eg a more comfortable chair / equipment.