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How many people had their RA start in their knees??  My doc said that is an unusual place for RA to start and I would like to know if any of us have had it start in the knees.  Thanks everyone!!!! Ankles, then knees. Does that count? I think I felt the pain in my knees first, and that is where damage has intensified.  Although my ankles have followed suit closely behind.  Hands, than eyes, than feet.........

We think mine started in my knees... altough no-one's really sure as I had knee troubles for years. They go particularly bad the year I was diagnosed though, to the point of being sent to a knee specialist to an MRI on both of them. They were permenantly swollen too.

So, knees, hands, elbows, wrists, feet.

Mine started in one knee.  Three drs. thought it was a running injury because at the time I was running 6-8 miles a day.  I ran even when it was swollen.  That is the only place I have had any swelling and once it went away it never came back.  I have had no swelling anywhere since.  I do get the flu like feeling and sometimes it feels like something alive is running through my blood, but so far no pain or swelling. (knock on wood)  It has been almost 1 and 1/2 years since my knee swelling.

Lori

Mine started in my shoulders.Becky's was knees, ankles and now her entire body....Mine started in one knee.  Lasted a day, then went to one foot which also lasted a day, then to left shoulder.  Mine started in my wrists,moved to my ankles then knees and shoulders.

knees were last for me. Mine started in my hands, then wrists, feet, hips, shoulders....

Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Eyes and ears and mouth and nose.... Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes.

oops, wrong song....I just woke up and it popped into my head.

The joint in my big toe hurt for 10 years before I was diagnosed, then the middle finger, on to my wrist, and then one morning I couldn't get out of bed, when I did finally stand up I couldn't walk.  Was diagnosed that day with RA and labs confirmed it.  Knees didn't start hurting till 10 years after the first symptoms started.  Lindy

Owie...LOL  I was thinking of that song when I was posting too

Everyone has a different onset, but the hands and wrists seem to be the "classic" start.

 

My knees is the first place I had pain.  No wait the jaw was.  But that was OA.  Then the knees (but they said it was more due to the way my bones grew).  Then my hands and wrist. 

Then after all that the RA blood work came back pos.  Before that neg.  So where did mine actually start I really don't know.  Since I read you can have it long before it actually shows up.

Knees here.  they told me I have dejenerative something or other, the cushion is gone in there.  Also in the heel of my left hand.  I can't think of getting a shot in there, but have had them in my knees.  Now after chemo it is in my shoulders and between my shoulders in back, my left hip too.Mine started in my hands, then feet, and hips.Hard to remember.  Think it was wrist, feet, hips, feet, index finger, feet, knee, shoulder, neck, other wrist, more knuckles, etc.

Or maybe it was feet, then wrist ... wait lower back first?  ....

One knee.  Then 12 months later the other one.  Knees like hot swollen red footballs.  For years they all said  OSTEO.  It wasn't until my knee replacements that SOMEONE (the surgeon) figured out that it might be something more... that took 3 years.

Then it took another 3 years before I was finally diagnosed with RA. 

Oh Joy it is hard to remember.

I think my feet (the balls) started hurting first. It was in my knees very early on. My hands may have been next.

I thought arthritis in the knees and other large joints was more an
osteoarthritis type. I was under the impression that RA affected mostly the
small joints. [QUOTE=lorster]I thought arthritis in the knees and other large joints was more an
osteoarthritis type. I was under the impression that RA affected mostly the
small joints. [/QUOTE]

That's the usual pattern, but like most things with this disease, there are exceptions.

Shoulders then knees then feet. 

Is it possible that RA usually is noticed in the hands and feet because the joints are smaller and therefore the damage is proportionally easier for the doctors to recognize? If RA is the body attacking the synovium, why would your body go after the hands and feet synovium first and not the shoulders or knees?  I think it may be that some RDs pay attention to too many books and not enough patients.  

 

Mine started in my knees.  My knees and ankles were horrible growing up, but knees were always worse.

Now my wrist is worst, but knees are still horrible.

Mine started in my little finger knuckle, then shins and knees, although had problems with knees in high school so it could have been there first but it went away for a while.

Surviving! how about you?

It's nice and sunny in my neck of the woods, very chilly breeze though. It's encouraging to have a noticable difference in daylight time now isn't it? Still light at 4.30it started in my knees when I was 8.  Right now I am scheduled to have my right knee replaced right before Easter this year if the artifical joint fluid shots don't work.  Just for the record, I am 36.  Now the arthritis is in every joint and just miserable.And for the record, my knees have always been fine, until a couple of years ago when I strained some ligaments in my left knee from running too much.The RA started in my hand and foot knuckles (textbook case... small joints, totally symmetrical), and the left hip joined the party a few years later. Mine started with my left knee then went to my right ankle
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