Newly diagnosed with OA

Blundell2504 · 15. Feb 2019, 15:16

Hi all.
Apologies if this appears twice but I typed it all out before and pressed submit, it seems to have disappeared somewhere.

I was told today that I have AO in my Wrists and Hands , (this was diagnosed after having xrays. The good news is that he blood tests show no sign of inflammation so it’s not rheumatoid, but I also have Anemia.

I have a question regarding something the Dr said

To give a very brief history of how we got to the diagnosis today, I was put on HRT 12 months ago as I was experiencing aching in my joints and muscles and they thought it was hormone related.
After giving it a good 10 months I went back to the Dr as my joints and muscles were still aching. He arranged xrays, took me off HRT and did blood tests.

I was surprised as when I told my Dr that my hands had gone so weak that I struggled to screw up a piece of paper or grip things to pick them up and I was tired all the time, he said that the Arthritis wouldn’t cause this.

He put me on Iron tablets for a month to see if that helps and said if it doesn’t he has no idea what is wrong with me but it could be something called Fibromyalgia. ( when I was talking to a work mate about this they said Fibromyalgia is a made up disease that lazy people use if they sleep a lot. ?? ) Do you think my Dr thinks I am imagining my symptoms as he suggested Fibromyalgia???.

Thanks for reading my post and any comments would be very much appreciated.

Denise

[Deleted User] · 15. Feb 2019, 15:23

Hi Denise
Welcome to the forum,what a time you are having,sorry that at the moment you are suffering from pain, we all understand that, as we all have forms of Arthritis and all have degrees of pain.
Everyone on the forum are friendly and welcoming and will try and help in any way to make you feel part of the forum the most popular forums are Living with Arthritis and Chit Chat.
All the best Christine

stickywicket · 16. Feb 2019, 06:24

Hi Denise

So, you have OA and anaemia and possibly fibro and I can 'hear' that you're worried that this might not be the full picture.

I think your GP has done the right thing by getting x-rays and blood tests. RA usually starts in the small joints (fingers for me) so, if there's no sign of it there, it's likely that you don't have it. Though, not impossible. In the wonderful world of arthritis few things are impossible :roll:

When I was first diagnosed with RA I was in bed a lot. It doesn't just cause tiredness but crushing fatigue. I was allowed into school (I was 15) only to do my O-levels and then only one per day. There is no way I could have held down a job.

Now, here's a difficult bit. Anaemia causes tiredness, and RA, and the meds we take for it, can cause anaemia. But that doesn't mean to say all anaemia is caused by either. Unfortunately, despite having arthritis, we get normal stuff too.

I have RA and OA, not fibro but those on here who do have the latter would hotly dispute that it's 'a made up disease that lazy people use if they sleep a lot.'

Check it out here https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Fibromyalgia/

Frankly, your symptoms do sound like fibro to me (a total non-medic) though I find your GP's idea that arthritis wouldn't cause muscle weakness laughable.

Have a read-up on fibro and see what you think.

dreamdaisy · 16. Feb 2019, 13:10

Hello, I have psoriatic arthritis, the joint damage from that led to osteoarthritis and then fibromyalgia. I am affected in the following ways: the psoriatic causes inflammation mainly in the entheses, the part where the muscles are attached to the bones, it can also affect the whole body and puts markers in the bloodstream. It is not positive for rheumatoid factor but is one of the many auto-immune kinds of inflammatory conditions. My affected joints become hot to the touch and the inflammation does not go away. The OA can also cause inflammation but is localised, the joint is not hot to the touch, no markers are put in the blood and it disappears after resting. The fibro affects my muscles making them very tender to the touch. They all cause tiredness but that of the PsA and fibro is very different in nature to the OA weariness. When the PsA flares I can be affected by extreme fatigue for weeks and months, the OA tiredness just feels different and is not as debilitating. I began the PsA in 1997, the OA was diagnosed in 2011 and the fibro some time after that.

People think they know what arthritis is and how it feels, similarly they are often 'experts' on other conditions that do not affect them. Ignore them, they are merely twerps and idiots. The GP needs to brush up on some basic facts about OA too.

I have to go out now, I will be back tomorrow. I started when I was 37 and am now nearly 60 so know my arthritic onions, as do the other old hands on here: we all get it because we've all got it. DD

Newly diagnosed with OA

Comments

Categories