New and Scared | Arthritis Information

Hi,

I am new to this board. I had my 2nd child in June and ever since I had him, I have had bad aching joint pain, mostly in my fingers (predominately in my left pinkie finger and now in my right pinky too). My knuckles ache, as do my elbows and my feet - mostly the knuckle joints of my toes. But also mostly near the pinky side of my feet (just like the pain is mostly on the pinky side of my hands).

I also noticed a small nodule on my left elbow, about the size of a lima bean, or perhaps a bit smaller. It does not hurt.

The pain is concentrated in my hands and elbows. I have a hard time opening jars of baby food sometimes. Advil and Alleve do not help.

I went to see my Internist a while ago and he told me that my aches were from carrying the baby. I disagreed. He did xrays of my left hand (it hurt more than my right at the time) and he told me it was fine. He did bloodwork too.

This is the result of my bloodwork:

Sed Rate by modified westergreen: 4

Anachoice screen w/refl to titer, ifa anachoice screen: positive

Anachoice antibodies, titer and pattern
ANA pattern: negative

Antinuclear antibodies <1:40 titer
(the above results may suggest the possibility of autoimmune antibodies. testing for ena antibodies (sm, sm/rnp, ssa, ssb, scl-70, jo-1) and ds-dna antibody should be considered if clinically indicated.

Rheumatoid Factor: 37 H reference range <14 IU/ml

I am going to see a Rheumatologist on monday but i'm totally worried. not sure if i need to be.

I am not sure why i ache to much....

And, when i was pregnant, i came down with PUPPPS, (google it), a rash seen in pregnant women who carry boys. It's an autoimmune thing too. This was in the spring of 2007.

thanks for any help.forgot to mention, my internist wrote on my lab results, which he mailed to me

"not suggestive of lupus"

"these are indeterminate. nothing bad found. perhaps RA but i doubt it. continue aleve for 1 month and if aches persist beyond that, we should have you see a rheumatologist"forgot, i am a 38 year old white woman in otherwise good health. no RA in family, but father has autoimmune problems.cnddream, it sounds like your internist is not proactive, which is unfortunate, but since you're seeing a rheumatologist at least you don't need to rely on him for an accurate diagnosis. My doctor sent me to the RD at the first sign of RA and my RF was only 17 or something like that. The RD said she loves my doctor because my doctor doesn't fool around and she catches the cases early.

Early, aggressive treatment is the number one thing for a better prognosis with RA. Even though RA is grossly underfunded for reasearch (compared to other chronic diseases) strides have been made in better treatment and more effective medications, so the future with it is not nearly as bleak as it used to be.

Welcome to the board, fellow Canadian. Hopefully you won't have to be here but if you need it it's a pretty good resource. [QUOTE=cdndream]
I am going to see a Rheumatologist on monday but i'm totally worried. not sure if i need to be. [/QUOTE]As a sufferer of RA I see this as a good thing, it is way better to have this looked at now rather than later.
I can understand your apprehension about the visit but be assured that if you do have RA then the quicker you get onto medication the better you will in the long term.

Not saying you have it ..

Be calm, not long to go now.
My sed rate is in the hundreds, pretty bad. Your number is very low which is a good thing. You might want to be checked for Fibro as well.

It may be nothing, but I'm glad to hear that you have an appt. It is better to know early and get started on treatment. Jot down notes as to your symptoms. Quite often diagnosis is based on symptoms since bloodwork doesn't always tell the full story.

I wouldn't think carrying a baby would make your joints ache, especially the toe joints... that's quite a reach.

Take care

Cathy

Welcome to the boards. My hope is that you'll soon be dropping us like a hot potato because the RD will give you a clean bill of health. But if that doesn't happen, try not to worry too much. It will have been caught very early, which is great and with the meds available now and aggressive treatment, you could have the same experience as my niece: diagnosed with lupus directly after the birth of her third child. After initial aggressive treatment, she went into remission and has been there for several years. Good luck and please let us know how you make out. I am having the same problem. It started in my left foot, pain and swelling to the point where I can't where any shoes and can barely walk. Now it's attacking me feet hands knees and sometimes my hip joints. The Alleve didn't help so now I have to take naproxen. When my hands are not aching I still don't full strenght in them. I've been to the rhuematologist, and he couldn't find anything. My lab results were the same suggesting something auto immune, but what? The rheumatologust says well maybe you had some kind of infection and that's what caused it. This has been going on, off and on since June 07.

I just wany an answer. They also say it's not lupus. I thought it was gout, bt that's beenrled out too.

My sympathy to you! I hope it resolves, or that you get answers. I was also mis-dx with "baby carrying" issues before it became obvious that was not it! I also had issues after having my second child, and my father has autoimmune problems too (addison's). I'm sorry you had to go through PUPPPS, I had a friend with that who was in agony.

EVJAY, I feel your pain as well. My rheum was convinced I was having some post-infectious reaction that a steroid shot would cure (it didn't). Hang in there, keep checking in with your doctors! :)

Welcome to the forum and sorry for the pains you have.

I am 35 and know what it is like to be young, scared parent.

I want you to know, if you are diagnosed with RA (i assume you will be by your test results), your numbers are small and it is said that if they treat immediately with proper meds within the first 2yrs of diagnosed, they should be able to stop it from spreading or growing in most people.

The drugs have side effects, but they are rare. Those who the drugs don't work on will come here and yell about it (it's a nice place to vent), you won't find too many people doing well because they are all living their lives and not forum chatting. So, don't think these meds don't work.

There are some meds you can take while pregnant, some you can't get pregnant on, they will talk to you about them.

In the meantime, try wearing braces on hands or elbows (i love my elbow brace), it will help you carry heavy things including babies. Keep shoes off when possible for your toes to relax and aleve etc. can help take some swelling away even if it doesn't help with pain. Just don't take too much.

My set rate is through the roof every time i have it, my Rheumatoid Factor was over 500 when diagnosed and is about 175 regular, so yours is pretty low. Your test numbers are nice, so you might not need too many meds to take care of your RA.

Please don't be afraid, I was paranoid the first 2yrs, i read everything (still do, but in a different way), I tried everything from diets to herbal remedies too. I cried a ton as well. Then one day it hit me, i have this for the rest of my life, i can live with it, i will be ok.

I believe you will too.

God bless you and i wish you well and quick recovery with meds. God bless.

Good luck to both of the newbies on this thread.