"Insedious" onset | Arthritis Information

Happy New Year's Eve to All! Hope 2010 brings great things for all of you.

I've read multiple places that those with a slow, "insidious" onset have a more challenging disease course. Based on your experience, how did your onset occur? How would you characterize slow (in terms of time) and insidious?

Best,

TechZitHi TechZit! For me, it wasn't slow, but was insidious! I was fine, minding my own business, did some sculpting with neumatic tools one day and couldn't use my hands and arms the next! I had done this very thing earlier in the week and had no problems. It started right then, along with the fatigue, morning stiffness and pain I couldn't touch with OTC pain meds.

Slow, to me, would have been an ache here and there, a swollen joint occasionally...

I hope this is what you were asking and best back attcha!

While my situation is different than most, having been DX'd w/ JRA as a child.... I have to say that my latest round was not slow but came at me like a train off the tracks!! All the while it was hiding and lurking and giving me jabs here and there as reminders ...

Mine was pretty slow. I had alot of random "fevers" in middle school. Joints would swell, xrays would show nothing. I was very active, played sports and showed horses. So inflammed joints were not a surprise. I guess freshman year in college was when it all came to a head. I played rugby, so once again, of course I was sore! I remember one of my sorority sisters asking why I had been limping to classes the last few weeks. I had no idea I had been. I also remember thinking that somehow my cleats had shrunk? Not the smartest thought. We had played a game in the pouring rain, so I thought maybe that had been the cause. Well, now it is obvious. Feet were crazy swollen. All the joints were a mess.

But, it took years. I was actually diagnosed with RA but the dr. @Duke changed it to JIA. He said it didn't matter treatment wise, but it would explain the extra-articular involvement.Mine hit with a bang. One morning I woke up and couldn't bend my knee. No way, no how. It was swollen to twice the size and seemed to be locked in the straight position. Scared the heck out of me. Couldn't think of how I could have injured it to make it that way.

I'd never seen an orth surgeon or a rheumatologist. But I'd been diagnosed with hypothyroidism the year before and the only doctor I had was an endocrinologist. So I called him, asking what I should do and he sent me to an orth surgeon, thinking I injured myself in some way. Long story short, I had CPPD. Then a few months later the symptoms for PsA began. By this time I had a rheumatologist who took tests - seronegative. Eventually I would add Osteoarthritis to my list of diagnostic codes, and then Ankylosing Spondylitis. Each year, in spite of treatment, I pick up a little more pain here and there. Luckily I have decent treatment and know the drill. It's not fun but hey, I could have something a lot worse, I figure.

I've learned that exercise is my best weapon. But during intense flares I can't do it and that's when I gain weight - FAST! Since diabetes [Type 2] runs in my family, I've since learned that I am pre-diabetic. So that added another ICD-10 code to the list. Boy, I keep collecting them!

I had a true insidious onset. Fortunately, for me, I am now in remission. I pray it will last forever. Of course, i still have lots of OA so I don't get lonely.

I beleive my first symptom to have occurred when I was about 15..I was diagnosed at 22. It took that long before I even went to the dr because the symptoms individually just did not add up to a drs visit ( ok I was stubborn..Ill admit it)

And yes my disease course has been severe, at least in the level of joint damage that has occured. Luckily I have not had nuch in the waty of extraartricular damage

Insidious was the first 15 years but with no definitive diagnosis because labs were normal. Had finger, toe and foot pain. Then one morning I woke up and couldn't walk. Legs and feet swollen, severe back pain with sciatica and hand pain.

Managed to go to ER and xray of back showed a bulging disk. My internist couldn't see me for a week but my obgyn saw me immediately. She happened to be a friend so she was willing to see me and refer me to orthopod. She said she'd refer me to an orthopedic doctor that day, so I wouldn't have to wait another week. Once she saw me and did a quick exam she ordered labs and my RA factor came back over 1,000, sed rate elevated. She diagnosed me immediately because she recognized all of my symptoms; her dad had severe RA.

She referred me to the RD who then referred me to an orthopod for back evaluation. Meds were started after I had a lum lam and decompression, Yes, it was insidious but unrecognized until the cosmic two by four hit me upside the head. Lindy

LinB2010-01-02 10:47:03[QUOTE=LinB] She diagnosed me immediately because she recognized all of my symptoms; her dad had severe RA. ........................unrecognized until the cosmic two by four hit me upside the head. Lindy[/QUOTE]

"Cosmic 2X4"......funny.

Sam12342010-01-02 10:55:56I have heard the opposite, an insidous onset = worse poor outcomes/prognosis etc!? Janie. My symptoms came on as acute. Woke up one day with swollen, stiff, painful joints. I remember it caused me alarm, because I could count the joints in my hands...very specific..same joints on both hands. my feet were also painful. I could not define the joints in my feet like I can in my hands.

Was a bit of a bell ringer