How old were you when you were diagnosed? | Arthritis Information

 

Just curious what your initial experiences were.  At what age were you diagnosed and what symptoms sent you into the dr?

Hi Rachel, diagnosis I was 36, birth of 2nd son, sudden onset, wrists, hands, feet, neck, elbows, jaw, shoulders and knees.  In hindsight I should have been diagnosed as a child as my Dr has gone thru my history, I was treated for arthritis when I was 21, but it was nowhere near this pain level!!!!!Best of Luck and sorry you have to be in our club, regards Janie. 26          I thought I was aching from working too hard! I think I was 30 (46 now) when diagnosed...thought my shoulder pain was caused by working out at the gym.  Doctor figured the same..until the pain started going to other joints.I was 48 thought I had neuromas in my feet, later found out it was arthritis. 2 years later went to ortho Dr for hands and wrists. didn't get dx til last year. I had also gone to Ortho Dr for both shoulders,never was tested for Ra by these Dr's. 11-12 but I had no idea anything was wrong with me, which makes me think I have had this all of my life. Only reason I was DXed is because my fingers were disfigured. COuld have been much longer if they weren't.I was a very healthy 47 year old who never got colds, flus, etc. Felt like I was 30. "I don't understand why it takes so long for some people to get a diagnosis.  What makes the doc hold back?  " Mine hit four years ago when I was 44.  I had migratory pain.  It would last in a joint for a couple of days before moving to another.  My PCP ran an ESR which was elevated and had me go back for an ANA and an RF.  Both were elevated so she referred me to a rheumatologist who ran a slew of other tests.  Based on the high ESR, CRP, Anti-CCP, RF, and ANA, he said he believed I had RA and was going to treat me as such.  His official diagnosis at the time was Migratory Arthritis.  He didn't change the official diagnosis to RA until the pattern changed.Buckeye...that makes sense.  I was dxed just before I was 37. I believe I had it all my life from certain things that happened to me as a child. I did a lot of ballet and sport though which kept it at bay as a child, I believe.

Had a bout of pneumonia at 29 and believe my RA was triggered off full throttle them. I am seroneg and it took them eight years to dxed me by them I couldn't pick up Neve, who was nearly three or use a knife and fork.

I turn 40 in May this year.
I was 47 when diagnosed.  Started in feet first, then hands  - an occasional shoulder.  Symptoms to diagnosis was about 4 months, so feel very lucky after reading how long some people took.  19 for a firm diagnosis. I had an "inflammatory condition" through school.between 18months and 2 years old. I'm 24 now.

Katie, how did your mom know your mom know there was something wrong? I am curious how you would know a baby had RA. Did you cry when you walked or walked differently? Maybe you shouldn't tell me because now I will besuper paranoid and looking for that in my kids!

I was diagnosed when I was 47, that was 2 years ago.  I think I had active RA since I was 39, thats 10 years ago.  That was when my Right knee blew up like a balloon.  I'm sero-negative so that was part of the reason the diagnosis was so long coming.  lol its okay I was fast to walk/crawl/etc etc. She said I started walking and then went back to crawling, but I didnt act like I was enjoying it. And I actually had enough swelling in my ankles that she could see it despite the baby fat. Even the doctors could see it, and were very aware. They kept telling her that I must have fallen, and kept asking if she was SURE she was watching me all the time. I think they even called CPS at one point. Of course there was nothing to be found, my momma was fine. I can't imagine what my ankles looked like. I wasn't a fat fat baby, but I had some chunk. LOL I was about 32 . As healthy and active as possible ( working 60 hours a week , running , rock climbing ) and within 2 months I could not even walk across the room with out alot of effort . My husband had to feed me because I could not move my fingers ,  shoulders really every joint I have was in such intense pain . Gosh, Miami. You are so blessed that they got it under control so quickly. Three years now since dx and they still haven't got mine under control. I have lived in that scary place for three long years. I am so starting to wonder if it ever will that I have basically given up on the traditional meds, I am on the second last anyway. I will do them and go through the emotions but at this point I am looking at ALL other alternative things I may incorporate to get me better. I have a small girl to raise and a life to live.

 And people wonder why I get down and cry sometimes, geez, who wouldn't?
I was just diagnosed last summer at 32. I had some symptoms for about 1 1/2 years that gradually spread. I thought I was too hard on my body growing up.....basketball, track, softball, volleyball, dance, gymnastics, etc. I was hobbling around every morning and a friend at work asked me about it and suggested I get tested for arthritis. I kinda laughed it off, but scheduled a physical for a few months away (I'm a teacher and was waiting for the summer for appointments), obviously I didn't think it was anything to worry about. My GP suggested I get some bloodwork done includint the RA factor. It came back extremely high (265) and she referred me to a RA doc. I went to two and they both were quick to say RA.

In response to the question about why it is so hard to diagnose, in my case I just explained it all away. It was mild enough in the begining to be...the shoes I wore to work..or...overworking myself at the gym...or....overworking my body in my younger years.....I never dreamed it was RA. Heck, I didn't even know what RA was!

Well my RF and as well my anti-ccp is 100 showed up when i was 44 a few months ago but i have been kicking and screaming for years. Fibro dx at 36. Been seeing ruemies scince age 23. Actually still waiting on some bloodwork. So far I have RA , Sjogrens and Raynauds and fibro. Maybe thats enough I think so.I was Dx'd at age 47 and the problems started in my feet.I was 37 at dx, but presented with symptoms several years prior.  All symptoms explained as other things ... fallen arches, tendonitis, strains, etc. ... only when I had real problems walking and my wrist ballooned up was I sent to a rheumatologist for my dx. 

Weird part of my tale is that I was RF positive years before my dx.
I was dx'd when I was 35, though I believe it started a lot sooner.  But, as others have said, I just explained it away...did too much, worked out too much, too much sports as a kid, etc.  Have had morning stiffness for many, many years, but I put that down to back problems I have had.  Then in 2006, it all started in my left shoulder, so I just figured I had done too much...then it got better, but moved to my right.  Again I thought, well, I must have overcompinsated with my right...no big deal.  When it started to move down my arms and I was dropping utensils, then I knew something was wrong.  Now, it has hit in my shoulders, elbows, hands, knees, ankles, and feet...it got busy in a year.  :(I was dx in Sept 2005. Almost 3 years ago I woke up with my right thumb and finger huge, red, swollen and I very painful. I went to dr at urgent care that dx me with cellulitis. Put me on antibiotics for 10 days with no help. I went back (I didn't have a pcp) and the dr then sent me for blood work and xray of hand and feet. Blood work came back rf 129 and my xrays showed up in both hands and feet. Which for years I have had problems with my ankles. Just thought I had weak ankles. I strained,sprained, broke, tore ligaments, was dx with tarsal tunnel syndrome, bone spur, and tendonitis back then but I think that was the start of the ra monster.two weeks after my son was born my symtoms started.  he was my 2nd child had a girl 1st she was not quite 2 at the time.   i was 26 years old.   i have never been pain-free or in remission since.  sometimes i am not as bad as other times.  it took 2 and a half years for a doctor to actually tell me what i had.  i heard lupus maybe, ms maybe but nothing for sure.  my rhuematogist cried when he told me.  at the time i was just glad it had a name.  but now i understand he could see my future.....   i am 47 now.wonderwoman2008-02-25 23:00:57I hate to say this as I don't want people to think the worst but my RA is still not under control after 8 years of treatment.  We still fight the fight but ain't nothing working!  Today after me thinking the MTX was going to be successful this time, looks like I have to come off again due to high ALT tests, just have to confirm with RD, which puts me right back where I always was, in pain/sometimes agony every day.  Its mostly due to intolerance but allergies with the biologics .  There is nowhere left to turn, so my med team are just trying to control the pain, but even that isn't working like it should!!!!!  Janie.   Sorry, Janie, I know you have done so much longer than I with nothing doing the job.

I just can't believe that there are some of us in this position where it is like nothing helps...nothing gets it under control. And then I hear stories of how it only took such a short while for someone's RA to be gotten under control. I just want to scream. Not at that person just at the unfairness of the circumstances we have to go through. I get angry and frustrated at the disease.

It is just so difficult and scary to be in this place where they can't control it for such a long time.
Thanks Cords, I knew you would understand, I just feel today that I have been hitting my heqad against a brick wall, where will it all end?  One great thing though, I gave up carbs 2 weeks ago under GP guidance and have lost 5kg now.  At least I seem to be in control of something.  Janie. Hello!
I was diagnosed with JRA when I was around 14-18 months old. Not sure what my symptons were.   hee hee    My mom and grandma noticed that I was crawling funny and starting to walk funny---so they brought me to the doc and I was lucky that he diagnosed me fairly quickly. I guess all my labs were off the charts and my leg (where it first started) was quite swollen and very warm to the touch.
Now I have arthritis pretty much everywhere! It would be easier to say where I don't have it. I also developed fibro secondary to my arthritis after the birth of my first son 16 years ago.
Lucky me!!!    But I try to make the best of it.    I was 52 when officially diagnosed by my pcp.  Was symptomatic for 10 years prior but Stanford Arthritis Clinic said that I didn't have RA.  All labs were normal but I did have the physical findings, so I didn't quite fit into their criteria for RA.  Blew a disk in my back, was waiting for surgery and woke up one morning and couldn't get out of bed.  Every joint in my body was painful, carried off to pcp who said she was sure that I had RA, did titer and other labs and RA titer came back over 900.  So here I am with a blown disk, lumbar laminectomy scheduled, and I can't walk due to RA and so sick I was barely coherent.  I was 21 when diagnosed with RA (Fall 2006).
I onset while studying abroad in Spain for a month (Summer 2006).  My fingers started swelling (scared my host mom to death!  she wanted to take me to the hospital lol), and there were days my feet wouldn't hold me up, and my knees were hurting and swollen all the time.  We were in Toledo, which is literally a city on a hill, so walking up and down to classes everyday was oh-so-much fun!  Seriously though, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything...I hurt, but I learned and saw so much!  Got home, my mom noticed I couldn't extend my elbows all the way (still can't), so went to the PCP and he tentatively diagnosed, and sent me to my first rheumie, who definitively diagnosed. 
I think mine onset from a combination of losing 60 lbs in 3 mths the summer prior, and being sick from Jan. to March that Spring (2006).  That, or the being sick was the first sign that my immune system was going wacko. 
Hope everyone has a great Tuesday!
~Kristen
Great thread, I am one of the lucky ones in that I was diagnosed with RA later in life than most of you, at age 55.   I had a terrible flare that moved from joint to joint and was bedridden with each joint - the episode lasted two weeks, but each joint cleared up within a day.  Since then  I have mild aches and pains and had a swollen wrist last Novemeber which went away within a day or two. That's it so far.  It has been 6 months and still no medication needed.    I take fish oil, exercise, and try to omit gluten from my diet but slip every now and then. I am very fortunate and thankful.       RF = 18; anti-CCP = 10.Not to like........compare this unfairly, or scare anyone, but just trying to lay this out......


For those of you who are still struggling to find what works, honestly, it's just like any other disease or condition, there's always that whatever % that doesn't react the same to the treatments. There's always someone who has horrid acne no matter what, gets cancer that can't be treated, has diabetes without provocation, etc etc. Sadly, it's just one of those "thats life" kinda things. That's not to say that NOTHING will work, it just takes longer for that % of people to find a good combination of things, or the one thing that works.

I'm not sure where I was going with that, I think I started off wanting to show newbies that anything is possible, on either end of the spectrum. Just like *anything* else in life. It's never as good as it can be, and it's never as bad as it can be. Just like life. But it's always "do able" If that makes any sense at all.

I'm gonna shut up now. LoL

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