Rheumatoid arthritis

Silvanaantoniuk65
Silvanaantoniuk65 Member Posts: 4
edited 20. Mar 2025, 06:23 in Living with arthritis

I had blood tests recently to see if I have rheumatoid arthritis in my hands. Tests were negative, was told it was Osteoarthritis (which is what I have in all joints). Just received a letter from a scan I had on my hands to now being told that it is rheumatoid arthritis. Can anyone tell me why it didn't show up on the blood tests? Have had 3 hip replacements, 2 knee replacements, all due to Osteoarthritis.

Comments

  • claudsl
    claudsl Moderator Posts: 161

    Hi @Silvanaantoniuk65 - I would assume the scan has shown more than the blood tests have and that's probably why. I'm not sure they can diagnose RA through blood tests only. I'm no medical professional though so it might be worth contacting your GP/rheumatologist to ask them to explain this better :)

    Claudia x

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  • TiredWarrior
    TiredWarrior Member Posts: 27

    Hi @Silvanaantoniuk65

    People can have Sero negative RA - which is when blood tests don’t show they have the disease but from the history, assessment and scans a specialist can diagnose it.
    Seropositive RA which shows up on blood tests is supposedly more aggressive of the two.

    Hopefully your rheumatologist will explain in detail when they start your treatment for RA.

    Best Wishes

  • Arthuritis
    Arthuritis Member Posts: 547

    @Silvanaantoniuk65 As others have mentioned here, you can have RA & be seronegative, which is kind of better than being seropositive for RA.

    However the latest research seems to indicate that either from RA or OA, has a large element of prolonged inflammation associated with it. We need inflammation to fight off infections and repair injury, but when that response is not turned off after the immediate problem is over, then it starts doing damage.

    I would recommend you chart or tabulate the results of your last 10 blood tests numbers of:

    CRP Indicates active inflammation/injury but non specific.

    ESR Indicates active inflammation

    EOSINOPHILS (rises on anything that irritates your immune system. Your trend is more important than a snapshot, ideally below .1 and falling).

    RDW (indicates if you are taking any immune damping meds like MTX)

    I assume your RF & ACCP were both negative.

    If they diagnosed RA then I would suspect they will want to start you on MTX (immune damper).

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