Dear Forum Members,
I have a question. Please I'm desperate
The pain is localized on the palm of the hands and the feet in the ankle area.
Thanks so much for the valuable help and the time reading this long post.
Roy and Kerlly
Well, your wife's story is similar to mine in some ways. My RA started in my wrists, dr. said it was cellulitis and put me on antibiotics. A few days later my ankles went bad, so the dr thought maybe it was a virus. Tested me for all kinds of virus's and all were negative. The pain and inflammation contiued on to all the rest of my joints (except my jaw) and then I saw a Rheumatologist. After a total of about 4 months I was finally diagnosed with seronegative RA. I started on RA meds, methotrexate and later added Enbrel, and now I'm practically normal again. My advice to you is that you get your wife in to a rheumatologist. Let us know, k?
Linda
I agree with Linda, you need to get your wife to a rheumy. I hope you don't have to wait too long, hang in there, it can take years to diagnose autoimmune disorders. Hugs Janie. Thanks so much for the answers. She had blood work done and according to the General Doctor the results came negative on RA. She only has the pain and discomfort on the hands and feet, no other joints involved. Please keep the opinions coming I'll make an appointent with the Reumathologist as soon as possible!, thanks so much.
There are a few different kinds of arthritis/autoimmune diseases. I would insist that your wife go to a Rheumy. The thing about this disease is damage can happen fast if this is what it is, and she needs to rule out every possibility.
Let us know. There is Seronegative RA, and it will never show up completely in the blood.
I have a different strain...even though my lupus levels are slightly elevated, and my RF levels are almost in keeping with RA, but not enough for dx. Then the Rheumy started looking at some psoriasis patches(which I didn't know what they were and had been asking about them for about a year or more), and that is how I was dx. You definitely need to have the Rheumy look at her...he has a totally different perspective.
keep us informed..shel
If she goes back to this doctor ask him to put her on a short course of predisone. If it helps her quickly it's highly likely she has some sort of inflamatory arthritis. Often some doctors will use the results to help come to a dignosis. There are many factors used to form a dx. Blood work is only a small part of it and as you'll read here many people do not test positive for RA but their doctors firmly believe they have it. Rarely will a GP come to a conclusion like that though with out positive blood work.
It's frustrating but she's real lucky to have your support. Don't get frustrated at her.....get frustrated at the doctors that won't do everything possible to help her.
Everybody, thanks again for your support and the help. I will make sure to take her to a rheumy as told. She has no strenght in her hands and she can't type, one hand is worst than the other sometimes and one ankle worst than the other. Our GP doctor says it's probably a virus but a virus can last that long?, he won't go beyond that to make sure is not something else.
Thanks so much please keep the opinions coming.
ABOUT THAT, BUT I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW IT IS
VERY REASSURING SEEING A SPOUSE TAKE SUCH A POSITIVE
ROLE THAT'S JUST WONDERFUL HAVE A NICE EVENING.
What a sweey hubby you are
Edit - you need to do some research on "viral arthritis". It looks like its curable and short term. GOOD LUCK.
Thanks for the props
Thanks for the welcome you all are so nice, great board!.