Anti-ccp positive

keith1971
keith1971 Member Posts: 302
edited 28. Mar 2011, 06:37 in Chat to our Helpline Team archive
Hi there,

A short version of my history :

Middle finger swelled up early last year, saw rheumatologist in May & was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis & prescribed Methotrexate but due to a complete lack of communication regarding the potential seriousness of this disease I chose not to take them.

Fast forward to early this year -- I now have pain in my right knee, both ankles, left elbow & right thumb/middle finger. I don't have any visible swelling.

Saw a new rheumatologist early this month & he too said I had PA. I had blood tests done & they came back as follows :

ESR - 13mm/hour
CRP - 6.6mg/L

And my Xrays showed 'mild degenerative change' to my big toe but no change in the initial middle finger even though I can still only bend it halfway!

The confusing thing & the point of my enquiry is as follows : my RF was negative but I showed a weak positive for anti-ccp antibodies with a score of 21

From what I've read this is indicative of Rheumatoid Arthritis & also is an indicator that the type of disease will be more damaging to joints.

I'm kinda confused over my diagnosis & also whether I'm heading for a super destructive course of the disease.

I'm 3rd week into a course of Sulfasalazine.

Any info gratefully received.

K.
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Comments

  • helpline_team
    helpline_team Posts: 3,946
    edited 30. Nov -0001, 00:00
    Dear Keith,

    Thank you for your enquiry to Arthritis Care. Sorry for the delay in replying but we were having a training day on Friday. Some of the questions you are asking we may not be the right people to answer in detail as we are not medically qualified. You should be able to make a quick appointment with a rheumatology specialist nurse to iron out the technical side. But in brief I think I understand that getting a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis (pa) is a bit different. The way that pa is monitored has some real differences that I'm not able to understand very fully. Whether for example the CCP result may indicate an aggressive arthritis you would have to clarify. The RF being negative may not be significant given that that you must have some psoriasis and other indicators of pa I'd imagine.

    If they think your arthritis is aggressive, then that would generally mean that they need to treat you swiftly and keep you well monitored. If your major concern is preventing long term joint damage then you'd be likely to get on well with the rheumatoloy mantra which is just that - preventing joint damage with mimimum side effects.

    The frustrating thing about arthritis is that the treatments don't work immediately, so you may have to manage times of discomfort and handle that. We are here to offer support, so do ring or get back in touch with us all on the forum.

    I hope that's helpful

    Guy

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