have I got it?

purplesparkle
purplesparkle Member Posts: 38
Hello, I went to my first rheumatologist appointment the other day and they did lots of tests etc and gave me a diagnostic steriod injection because he thought I had an inflammation arthritis and said if the injection helps ease the pain then thats what I probably have-it has eased so does this indicate I probably have inflammation arthritis and what does that mean? will they try to work out what type or is it just called inflammation arthritis????

It's all very confusing for me!

Comments

  • tillytop
    tillytop Member Posts: 3,460
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hello Purplesparkle - love the name!

    I am not a member of the helpline team, just a forum member, but I thought maybe I could help a bit until the helpline team can reply.

    Inflammatory arthritis is a term which covers many different conditions - there are lots of different types of inflammatory arthritis, some of which are not easy to diagnose specifically.

    Whilst the effectiveness of the steroid injection may well give the specialist bit of a clue, as they told you, my guess is that the rest of the tests are intended to help them find out a bit more about what is going on and how best to proceed. Some types of inflammatory arthritis have specific "markers" in the blood which can help the doctors with diagnosis, but many of them do not so the specialists need to consider the whole picture - the pattern of your symptoms, your blood test results and sometimes x-ray or scan results too before deciding what steps to take next to help to manage your condition.

    Hopefully the steroid injection will continue to help you until you are seen again with the results of your tests.

    I know that the helpline team will answer your post when the helpline is open again on Monday but, if you do want to "chat" in the meantime, you may want to post your message again on the "living with arthritis" forum because most of us look there regularly.

    Thinking of you.

    Tillyxxx
  • purplesparkle
    purplesparkle Member Posts: 38
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Thank you Tillytop :smile:

    It's all so confusing and also annoying not knowing what's going on with me-although I'm still in less pain, this morning I have the feeling I know so well-when my glands are fighting something-do you know what I mean or is it just me????
  • tillytop
    tillytop Member Posts: 3,460
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Oh yes I do know what you mean Purplesparkle. Inflammatory arthritis can make you feel as if you are "going down with something". Glad to see you have posted on LWA forum too cos I know you will get lots more replies on there.

    Thinking of you.

    Tillyxxx
  • helpline_team
    helpline_team Posts: 3,464
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi there,

    Thank you for your enquiry to Arthritis Care. If the rheumatologist suspects inflammatory arthritis they will be looking for some clinical evidence to back up the hypothesis. Some people with immune system related arthritis don't always show clearly what's going on with all the blood tests that are done, and that can make the diagnosis process somewhat slow.

    It's likely that you will need to be in touch with the rheumatology team for a while as they look into this. I realise that you've had a steroid injection to help in the short term. Has the specialist suggested trying you on a disease modifying drug to see if you respond?

    Do you have any other questions, or is there anything that I've not answered enough? You are welcome to ring us on our freephone if you would like.

    If you would like to get some more general information on arthritis you can email or private message our team with your postal address and we can send you more information by post.

    I hope that helps

    Guy
  • purplesparkle
    purplesparkle Member Posts: 38
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Thank you for getting back to me and sorry I took so long to say it :)

    I have been visiting various Consultants and Doctors at the hospital for years now-first they thought I had a shoulder problem & operated to find out it wasn't what they thought so they took a biopsy of my collar bone due to it being swollen and double the size-I was told I had wear & tear arthritis, then they found I had some wear & tear on my neck, (they just seemed to focus on one thing) I saw a physio who said I displayed Fibromyalgia (not sure of spelling) type pain, pain clinic gave me a neck steroid injection which didn't work. Then finally after years the Consultant decided I had some kind of symetric poly arthritis and referred me to the rheumatologist who I see next week for my second appointment & I have no idea what the next step will be???? I have been fairly pain free apart from the odd niggle, temperature, glands up, twitches/kind of tick like, so really I'm just hoping that I finally find out what's going on and they can continue to keep the horrible pain away. It's just all so confusing really but it has been lovely being able to work, shop etc without my pain stopping me do things. so thank you steroid injection :lol: sorry to have rambled :oops: