Hi this is my first post here and I have some questions for you veterans who have experienced so much with this illness.
Anyway, I have had mild joint pain for several years now. It started in my feet and toes...felt like an annoying burning sensation that made me want to rub my feet against something and pop my toes. I never have had any real "stiffness" or pain upon movement. In fact the pain feels a lot better when I move my feet and exercise. Interestingly enough my ankles do seem to swell at times as do my knees but I've never had any pain in either of them. Over time that annoying burning sensation progressed to my hands and fingers. Again, it's never been a really bad pain that prevented me from doing things, just an annoying little burning/itching that makes me constantly want to move and stroke my hands and pop my wrists. I also often have that burning/itchy sensation that goes up the muscles of my back, shoulders, and neck. The pain is annoying at times but sometimes I forget completely about it. Sometimes it goes away nearly completely for months at a time but always seems to come back.
I've never had any joint "stiffness" or swelling in the hands and feet...just that burning itchy type pain. I have also dealt with extreme fatigue at times that seemed like chronic fatigue but that was mainly prior to the onset of symptoms. I am very active...lift weights and do cardio on a daily basis. The pain is always improved by exercise and has never prevented me from doing anything physical.
The pain does seem to be affected by my diet. Foods like dairy products seem to make it worse. A few years ago after the initial onset of symptoms I thought I had RA and went to a rheumatologist. My RF was negative and my sedimentation rate was near zero but I still had that pain but was never diagnosed with anything. I also saw a couple of other Drs. and all they would say is it didn't look like RA since there was no swelling or severe pain so just take an anti-inflammatory.
It hasn't gotten any worse since then but hasn't really got any better either. I'm not sure if I have any joint damage or not....My toes and wrist go snap, crackle, pop very easily and I'm constantly popping them when I lay in bed or sit at the computer but I've never had any swelling in them, pain upon movement, or pain to the point of feeling really debilitated.
It seems to me that my symptoms are either some type of mild RA or maybe a manifestation of fibromyalgia. At this point going to another Rheumy I feel is pointless because my pain is not that great, my symptoms are not that severe and I don't have the trigger points characteristic of fibromyalgia. My questions are does anyone know if fibromyalgia ever cause joint pain without inflammation? I don't have the trigger points but the burning in the muscles of my back, shoulders, and neck make me think that maybe the joint pain I experience is more of a fibromyalgia type joint pain.
Also is it possible to have RA so mild as to not progress to joint damage etc?
Hi and welcome to AI, hope you find what you need here. Most members have experienced so much that you are bound to get answers.Just an opinion...it doesnt sound like Fibro or RA to me...but yes you can have RA and not have it progress to the point of joint damage. There are over 100 forms of arthritis and I believe the arthritis foundation has info on their website regarding various forms. I think that maybe another option for docs would be an internal medicine doc or maybe ortho.
I hope you will stick around...we have a lot of great researchers here and maybe one of them can dig up some info on your symptoms. If you have any other symptoms, even if you dont think they are related maybe you can list them as well...skin rashes, frequent colds or infections...numbness or tingling..anything else?
Welcome. I agree with janiefx. But i did want to say welcome.
Well, I have RA and joint pain but also muscle pain. Basically I was told my muscles hurt because my inflammation levels are so high so everywhere hurts from my nose to my toes.Hi B..well, I can't say too much about your symptoms because my RA didn't creep up slowly like many of the others. Mine hit hard all at once. Maybe a trip to your GP will direct you to the kind of doc you need. I think you should do something though. Welcome to our board, most likely someone will come along and prove to be more useful than I've been.
Linda
have you had a comlete thyroid panal done (tsh, free t3/t4 and antibodies)?
Hi, my thoughts are that you may have answered your own question when you wrote "The pain does seem to be affected by my diet. Foods like dairy products seem to make it worse."
There are quite a few folks at the Roadback site who have had good luck with modifying their diet....might be worth looking into.
Ron