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Three months ago I went to get up out of bed and could barely walk.  Since then I've been having severe pain in my ankles, my shoulder joints, my knuckles, wrists and sometimes even my elbows and jaw.  The pain is excrutiating.  I saw a Rheumy but I wasn't too impressed w/ her.  I had tons of blood work done and my RA test came back negative and my Sed rate was 19 out of 20 (20 being the end of normal).  She basically blew me off and told me it must be fibromyalgia.  WHAT?  This isn't muscle pain this is clear joint pain.  So I went to an internist and told her what's going on and she feels it's still RA but maybe the sero negative form.  So back to more blood tests and probably a new Rheumy.  It's also very hard to move around in the morning-I'm super stiff and sore.  I'm on Prednisone right now which helps for a little bit and then seems to wear off.  Does this at all sound like RA?  And can you be in the early stages of RA and not have any redness or swelling showing up yet?  I've never had this kind of pain before....thanks for any info! I don't know if you have RA or not.. but I do and I am sero=negative.

Ditto what Babs said.  I think you're on the right track getting another opinion.  Glad you found the board. :)Yep, sero-negative here also.  I had to get a second and third opinion so keep on searching. You may have both fibro and RA. Fibro can make your joints bonkers from my understanding--it's not strictly muscle although it's signature. RA is most classically defined by inflammation and swelling.

It would be best if you confirmed your Fibro along with double checking for RA. If you should have both that would definitely impact your treatment strategy. The RA may show up later--that seems to happen often enough.

(Frankly, if it were me, I'd stay with a diagnosis of Fibro long enough to see if treating that resolved my problems--one way to know if something is correct is by effectual treatment.)

mab522008-04-06 18:56:54For sure if you get any swelling run to the doctor as soon as you can. Fibro does not cause swelling in joints.  Yes you can have both Fibro and RA. What did they give you for the fibro? It is possble to have swelling that can not be seen by the doctor. Well in my case the doctor seem to have thought i was a linebacker i know how big my shoulders are. But an MRI clearly showed swelling inside the joint eight years prior to my bloodwork showing that i had RA. Also see if they ran an anti-ccp test. Is all of your bloodwork back? Fibro is a disease of the muscles and tendons. Your tendons shrink this pulls on the joints and causes joint pain. Honestly you have alot of joint involvment and i was told just fibro for years and then boom my bloodwork begs to differ. I did have some swelling but not outragious swelling in the past. It still hurt plenty and did damage also.  Have you ever had any swelling? Even small swelling? Do you drop things? They offered to give me Lyrica but it's not covered by insurance.  I haven't dropped things but I can barely open jar lids or use the hand can opener.  Are there other forms of Arthritis that mimic RA?  I tested negative for Lupus also-just an extra note there.Well tell them your insurance does not cover the Lrycia. They could call in something else. Alot of people are sero negetive meaning they do not show up on the bloodwork. It is alot more common than you would think. I can not of course tell you what you have. Just if you get swelling take a picture and see a doctor. Also your regular doc is on your side this will help. If you do not get relief stay after the RD as without swelling and bloodwork it may take a little longer to get a diagnoses. Just keep the doctors informed as to what is going on.I started on the Prednisone pack yesterday.  It's actually called MethylPredniSolone.  It's 4mg and I guess 21 pills?  Anyways today I got out of bed w/ out pain and was stunned.  I have a tiny bit of pain in my knuckles but nothing like it was....so I wonder where they go from here? They said I can't stay on Prednisone for long....Predisone wont help the fibro, it helps RA though. I have both and because they over lap its hard for the doc to tell what you have. But if they gave you predisone they may be looking at something else. Goodluck!I also have both. My RD said that 15-20% of people with RA have Fibro as well. I take Neurontin for my fibro and it has helped, but not the joint pain. I do feel sooo much better being on that. I go back to RD next week and she is planning to put me on Plaquinel for the RA. I'm hoping to have relief from joint pain soon.
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