Can anyone tell me what is wrong with me? | Arthritis Information

I'm frustrated, tired, broke, and have no insurance.

I'm almost 27 years old, and until two weeks ago I've been perfectly healthy. The only time I've ever been in the hospital was to have my daughter 5 years ago. So, two weeks ago, I woke up and made it about halfway down the stairs when my legs began to hurt. I hobbled into the kitchen to get a glass of juice like I normally do, and then came in to the computer to get ready for my daughter's homeschool lessons. The back of my neck was achy and my legs hurt. My shoulders hurt. I struggled through her lessons and spent the rest of the day in the recliner. When my husband got home I told him I didn't feel good, but felt that I'd be fine in the morning.

The next morning he woke up at 5am for work and asked how I was. I said I felt fine. No pain. So he went ahead and went to work. Once I started to get out of bed a couple hours later, I realized that I was still in pain. Same as the day before. Again I struggled through my day and told husband I was sure I'd be ok the next day. Wrong, the next day I was worse! I called off school for DD and laid in the recliner all day. My husband called and asked how I was and I told him worse. He cut his day short and came home and took me to Redi Med. They did a complete blood count, it came back normal. No anemia, white cell count normal, heomoglobin fine. They advised that if I wasn't feeling better in a couple days to have my thyroid checked, as it could be hypothyroid.

So I managed to get an appointment at the doctor's office for the following Friday (a week later). They said the test came back normal, although I have a copy on the way and intend to seek a second opinion on that as I've heard a lot of doctors aren't aware of new guidelines for thyroid disorders.

But, what if my thyroid is fine? What the heck else could this be? For a few days my jaw hurt to chew, but now it's fine and I'm eating like it's going out of style. My hands are a little achy, it's hard to open jars, and it hurts to put weight on them, like when getting in and out of a chair. Not as badly as it did, but it's still there. My elbows were also very sore for a few days, although it felt like the pain was in the muscle as opposed to the actual joint itself. I was very bad for about 4 days, and have been getting progressively better for the past week. I'm to the point that other than bending down is difficult/painful and I get tired much faster than I used to (an hour shopping trip at Wal Mart wore me out) I feel close to normal. I'd say I'm at about 80%

I need to find a starting point so I can find a doctor who is willing to listen to me so I can get this problem diagnosed with as few exterraneous tests (and dead ends) as possible since I have to pay for this myself. I don't have insurance.

Amber, sorry you need this forum, but it is great. Your sound like you have PMR. There is no test for this, but prednisone eases the pain in 24 to 48 hours. I believe that is the test for a dx. However, my blood work was all over the place, and that is why they put me on pred. Hope you find someone to help you.

Shirley
I didn't take anything at all, not even Tylenol or anything. I hate taking medication for anything. It went away after about 4 days. Can a thing like this be brought on by stress? My husband and I were/are having serious relationship problems and I'm wondering if it wasn't brought on by the extreme stress? Especially since I seem awfully young for this. I read the PMR boards and it seems like everyone there is at least 50 years old. I'm only 27.Amber - I don't have PMR, actually I don't have a definite diagnosis, but I have some sort of combo of autoimmune of RA, lupus, plus a few more. Every article I have read about autoimmune is that stress can be a trigger. Getting your head wrapped around the idea that you can now be sick after being healthy, and suddenly getting ill is a tough issue to work through and STRESSFUL! Right now is the time to concentrate on yourself, get lots of rest, drink lots of good filtered water, and try to un-stress. (Impossible, but I had to say it LOL) The good news is that you can go into remission with autoimmune, you can flareup suddenly and just as suddenly have the flare disappear, all sorts of scenarios. I feel strongly that we are all unique in our autoimmune situation, and you are the one that will determine how you handle this, and when you are flaring, its a sign to rest and regroup. We are all pulling for you here. Cathy

Amber, you do need a couple of more blood test.

an ESR (sed rate) this determines inflamation in the blood

RF (rhumatoid factor)

ANA (antinuclear antibody)

CRP (C-Reative Proteine)

LE (to determin if it is Lupus)

Anti-CCP

HLA B27 typing(this is a genetic marker test, and is probably expensive) I don't know. This helps in determining other arthritis's.

Also...have you ever had Psoriasis...usually starts on the head and is mistaken for dandruff. Psoriasis on the head is much larger flakes that do not come off of the head unless taken off, and peeled from the head. Dandruff will leave the head fairly freely and is very small flakes. There is an arthritis associated with it.

I hope this helps and gives you a starting point. Follow your gut and sometimes it takes a while for a true dx of any connective tissue disorder(large catagory for arthritis).

You need to rest, but if you are having any of these tests try not to take any anti-inflamitories.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions. Take care and rest...the house can take care of itself for a while.