Pain in all my joints non inflammatory

IBJ
IBJ Member Posts: 2
in Living with arthritis

Hi I am a newbie and thank you for letting me join.

About three months ago I developed hebdens nodes in most of my fingers on my left hand now the majority of my joints hurt and from having silent joints they all now click and walking can be painful as my knees hurt, all tests for inflammatory arthritis are negative, doctors do not know what is wrong. I have suddenly developed a big soft lump at the back lower neck and my neck creaks, anyone have any ideas what is wrong. Thanks

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  • Shell_H
    Shell_H Member Posts: 548
    edited 31. Oct 2020, 15:39

    Hi @IBJ , welcome to the online community!

    You say you've got pain in most of your joints but you don't have inflamation. You have had Hebden nodes on your fingers. You've had tests for inflammatory arthritis which have come back negative.

    I don't know - you haven't said - but I'm guessing these tests were blood tests? Inflammatory arthritis is often Rheumatoid Arthritis, which causes a lot inflammation and swelling in the joints. There's also the more common Osteoarthritis. This doesn't show up in blood tests and often has no inflammation. This is most often diagnosed with a physical examination by the doctor - it does not have a blood test or otherwise associated with it. It often has the only symptom of pain and restricted movement, although other things can occur with it (heberden nodes being something which occur). If your doctor thinks that all arthritis must be identified through inflammation tests it sounds like they don't have a brilliant grasp of Osteoarthritis. You could ask them to get more information on it, or ask if there is a doctor in your practise who may have more familiarity with arthritis, as GPs are by their very nature general knowledge people, not specialists, and no matter how brilliant they are they can't know everything about everything. Quite often a GP may have a specialist interest, or simply have more experience in one field compared to others. Here's some more information on this type of arthritis:

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis/

    Regardless of whether you get a diagnosis or not you should ask to see both a physio who can help you with exercises and more physical treatments which could help, and the pain clinic are very experienced in dealing with people who have chronic pain and know what medications etc you could be trying.

    The creaks could be arthritis, I don't know about your lump. If your current doctor is stumped I'd suggest seeing a different doctor. You need help, and if they can't help someone should.

    In general you need to be managing your pain. There's a lot which goes with being in pain a lot - just by having chronic pain you can have emotional issues and increased fatigue. Have a look at these resources and try out whatever speaks to you:

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/managing-your-pain/
    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/exercising-with-arthritis/exercises-to-manage-pain/
    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/managing-fatigue/
    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/

    Have a look around - there are lots of people here in the online community who feel similar to you. Join in the conversations or just have a check our on what people have said before. We're very welcoming!

    It's lovely to meet you,

    Shell

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