newbie | Arthritis Information

Hey all,

I have been experiencing pain in my hands, feet and knees mainly. My family Dr. did bloodwork and has discovered that I have an elevated rheumatoid factor. He is sending me to a rheumatogist. What can I expect at my first appointment. Also, is a low grade fever on and off something people with RA experience? Mine will go up to about 99.8 and down to 98.4 in the space of an hour sometimes 3 or 4 times. Particularly in late afternoon. Any help with what to expect would be appreciated.

Please tell your doctor about the fevers. Yes it is common during a flare. I hope you get a good doctor. Welcome to the forum.I see by your name you have fatigue. Sorry that stinks. Are you swollen? If you are swollen when you see the rheumatologist your visit will go better.Hi and welcome to the forum. I'm glad your doctor is referring you quickly to a rheumatologist. What you can expect is a history, physical exam of your joints, additional blood work, possibly xrays and maybe medication but that depends on the RD. They might wait until the additional labs are completed. They may give you a NSAID to help with the inflammation and any pain and/or they may start you on a burst pack of Prednisone. They might possibly start you on MXT, Plaquenil or Arava. It's hard to say. RDs are different in how they approach a new patient. A low grade temp is normal with a RA flare. Keep us posted on your progress. LindyWelcome ultratired. Good luck at your RD appointment! sorry that you had to join us. im also pretty new, and this is a great place for information and support. welcome!
i had pain, but no fever. my first RD appointment, the dr. checked my joints, got my history, and ran blood tests. i guess pretty basic stuff.
i didnt get a diagnosis on the first visit, actually i still dont have a concrete diagnosis, but its only been a month or so for me.
good luck with your appointment. keep us posted.
Welcome - glad to hear that you're being referred right away. The earlier you can get diagnosed and start treatment is so helpful. Link below that talks about what to expect at your appt. It's helpful to keep a daily log of symptoms, questions, etc. I found especially at first that there was so much I wanted to ask that I'd forget about 1/2 of them.

http://www.arthritis.org/disease-center.php?disease_id=31&df=diagnosed

great advice so far! Just wanted to say Hello on this thread.... best to you!Can't add much more except to address the fatigue. Being tired all the time is another symptom of RA. That one can wear you out! Take time to get proper rest when possible.

Welcome to AI....we're glad you're here. Keep us informed as to how your doctor's visit goes.

Good Luck and hope to see more of you here.

At least a positive RF means a firm diagnosis, there are many on here who are seronegative, with only the physical symptoms of RA to show their dr. I have to agree with all the suggestions. You are fortunate in the that you were dxd when there are many more options and better treatment for this disease. Good luck on your journey.Welcome! I am sorry you are going through all this, it can be overwhelming to say the least. You are doing the right thing by educating yourself, that is the best thing you can do. Besides the pain, fatigue is the worst for me and it can become a vicious cycle quickly, pain=no sleep=fatigue=pain.... Lovie is right, it can wear you out, so certainly address that issue with your RD. There is such good information on this forum!

Best to you and please let us know how you are doing!

Welcome and good luck.

Welcome, ditto to all the advice you've had so far. Dont be afraid to ask lots of questions when you see your rheumy. Resting when you are tired is very, very good advice which takes the best of us ages to listen to. HI,

I am new here too and just found this place. I am confused by all that has happened.

I have tested positive twice for the rheumatoid factor and twice my esr rates were through the roof. I went on prednisone and all results then came back normal...........

Well, I have weaned off prednisone this past week and now I remember what I felt like before.......soo tired and difficult to get up the stairs........and my feet.................I also have weird pains up my legs, some pain in my hands, and a lot in my neck..........

I have not got an official diagnosis. I have seen the rheumatoligist once. He took some history, looked at my blood work, and then told me when I flared to go in and get the blood work he has requested (ANA, ESR, RF, CRP, CCP, liver function tests, CBC and a few other things........).

Any ways, I really am not one who likes to complain and I am so glad I may have found eople who might understand how I am feeling!

Welcome to the forum. It is frustrating until you get a good diagnoses. Rarely does a rheumatologist give you a diagnoses the first time you see him. Your esr is an inflamation marker. So it is good if it goes down. When you have swelling the esr should be high. When the swelling goes down so does the esr. It is supposed to work that way. Sometimes it doesn't but it generally is supposed to.Thanks Milly. How do I know when I flare? When I got home, i thought about that. Some days are worse than others and I never seem to feel "okay" anymore........

Also, I have just been browsing posts here and people mention swelling. I do not think I have had swelling........

I worry that this could be something else? How long does it usually take for an official diagnosis?

Why did they give you prednisone if you did not have swelling? Was it for pain?Well the doctor did alot of bloodwork so they will let you know soon.Hi craz4dogs,

RA can be a very confusing disease! I don't generally get what I would consider 'swelling'. Usually for me, the affected joint will just hurt like all heck for a day or two (rendering it unusable) with maybe a little 'puffiness' detectable. Most of the time I don't get much of the typical 'redness' that's also associated with inflammation, either. (However, I have noticed that all of the veins around the area will stand out.) Also, I don't think I've ever had the classic 'symmetrical joint pain' symptom. I might have a wrist on one side and an ankle on the other, but not both wrists or both ankles at the same time.

The bloodwork thing can be confusing, too. I've had mine done at times when I felt 'okay' and had everything come back very high, and I've had it done at times where I felt like total crap, expecting my numbers to be off the chart, only to have 'em come back just slightly elevated. Go figure...

RA does different things to different folks.

Seems kinda weird that your doc told you to wait until you were having a flare to get your stuff retested, though.

Anyone know how long prednisone actually stays in your system? (From my personal experience, I'd guess not long.)

Hang in there, craz4dogs!

It was my family dr who prescribed the prednisone. He did this before I saw the specialist because he wanted to see if it helped me and see if it brought down my esr rates? He said my esr rates were some of the highest he has ever seen and he wanted to get the inflammation down. I reluctantly took them. When I saw the rheumatoligist he asked me if they were helping and I said no..........he gave me a way to wean off them.........

Well then don't you know it, I am weaning off them and I remember the way I used to feel and yes, they must have worked!!! or maybe I was just having a good period when I was on them??

Any ways, I go back to see him in July. Thanks for all the responses. I am reading as much as this board as I can.

Crabbyhermit thanks for the reply about the swelling. I had so many questions at the rhem. dr. appt, and felt overwhelmed too that I did not really think about the flare thing until after I was home and when I did, I was like, how do I know when I am having one? For the most part I always feel pretty crabby although some days are worse than others.....it does feel like it is getting worse though.

Sorry, I should clarify about the bloodwork. I have not done it yet, since I don't know when to do it.............

I had all the other bloodwork done with my family dr that made him realize I need to see specialist---that showed the very high ESR rates, positive rfactor twice, etc. I also had ultrasounds done on my organs and they saw something in my liver and so I had a cat scan on that........it came back okay.

Is there somewhere we can introduce ourselves and I can read over other people's info?

I am 34. Have two children age 8 and 6........have a wonderful husband who massages my feet every night;-)

[QUOTE=craz4dogs]HI,

I am new here too and just found this place. I am confused by all that has happened.

I have tested positive twice for the rheumatoid factor and twice my esr rates were through the roof. I went on prednisone and all results then came back normal...........

Any ways, I really am not one who likes to complain and I am so glad I may have found eople who might understand how I am feeling!

[/QUOTE]

Welcome Craz4dogs....I'm crazy for dogs too; well one itty bitty toy poodle anyway. lol

The fact that the predisone put a stop to all your symptoms will be a good indicator that you do in fact have some sort of inflammatory situation going on. Predisone is often used to dignosis RA for that very reason. I've never tested positive for RA but my first RD dx'ed me on my very first visit due to all of the other classic smyptoms including an elevated SEDSrate; which is a test that marks the inflammation in your body. I too responded very quickly to Predisone and when the doctor called me two days after my original appointment to see how I was feeling I told her the difference was amazing. She said that helped her confirm her original dx'ed. I rarely notice any sort of swelling just the occational puffyness; but often my doctor will point out swelling in places like my elbows that I hadn't even recoginzed as swelling. Many of us don't typically swell.....and predisone isn't just prescribed for swellling. Just because you don't notice swelling does not mean you don't have active inflammation.

Hope you'll stick around. This is a really neat bunch of folks. If you can ignore the random stupidness that pops in and out here you'll really enjoy mingling with folks that share your struggles.....and there will be struggles that very few people will understand.

Well I guess then when you get really tired and in pain like you were in when your esr was elevated before would be a good time.Just a quick hi to our newest newbies; ultratired and crazy4dogs.

About the awful tiredness, heaviness, brain fog... For me, the most debilitating symptom is the Great Fatigue, even more than when my fingers don't work and hips and shoulder and feet hurt. Family can help me with those and devices help too. But getting this feeling of "flu-as if I have a very high fever" every single day is the pits. My doc said to adjust my life around everything so I have. I found years ago, that if I pay attention to the start of my "flu" and don't wait too long before going to bed for a 2 hour nap(my magic #), I wake up like I do in the morning; stiff and sore, sometimes a bit swollen but greatly improved in that the all-over-body pains +heaviness and the awful brain fog is gone for another few hours. My whole family demands I do it before any event like tomorrow's late afternoon graduation party for niece. I'm such a different person. When my joints hurt, it's awful, but at least I can sit and be social! So, try to figure out what helps you and then just do it. There are drugs that help too, but I'm not on one of those tnf inhibitors probably because I'm pretty stable on the ones I'm taking so we are waiting until they don't.

Good luck to you both, keep us posted.

CathyMarie... a Huge dog fan!! (well, I am not huge, just my level of dog fan-ness)

Hello Newbies; ultratired and crazy4dogs

I do not have fatigue, tiredness and I have chronic anemia and very low iron.

Go figure that . May be I have high tolerance for pain. May be chronic anemia made me immune to tiredness because I can not feel it any more. I have swelling and stiffness. My pain usually goes away with the use of ice. It just my foot won't move as if somebody is hanging on my leg and i am lugging somebody.

Ra is different for different people.

Good luck and come here frequently.

HI JUST A NEWBIE MYSELF,I HOPE U GET IT SORTED DOGZ IT TOOK A WHILE FOM MINE TO BE DIEGNOSED.HAVE HAD IT FOR A LONG TIME NOW.GOOD LUCK WITH UR TESTS HOPE ITS NOT RA.
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