New Here; New to All of This | Arthritis Information

Hi everyone. I'm not in the habit of spamming message boards, but LevLarry suggested I repost this in the RA forum. I'd love to hear back from anyone with suggestions/advice on what I might have. I will include some updates since my original post.

The very first thing I want to say is that if this thing I'm suffering from turns out to be temporary, and I so hope it does, I will never, never, never have more respect and sympathy than I now have for people who have lived with chronic arthritis for years and years. I will never again sigh impatiently behind the elderly woman in the checkout line who takes forever to write a check or the person who takes forever to walk up the jetway to the air terminal, since I've been in both situations in the past month.

And, though I'm in a professional position where I'm asked all the time to take on and volunteer for health causes of all kinds (the Heart Assn Ball, the Diabetes Run, etc....I think I have a new one that I might dedicate myself to now).

A month ago, I was robbed overnight. One day a month ago, I was a fine 40 yr old woman working out every day, trying to lose that ubiquitous hypothyroidism 30 pounds...healthy except for my long-running but well contolled and not bothersome hypothyroidism and a pesky cold/cough/slight sore throat with conjestion/runny nose that I'd had for about a week.

But the next day, BOOM. My body imploded. Debilitating pain in my shoulders that within 12 hours migrated to my right hand and elbow where I had red, warm, swelling, that 12 hours later migrated to red, hot, very swollen ankles, and 12 hours there followed hips and knees. Thank GOD my feet below my ankles have never been involved. The top of myr right hand was red and puffy, and the left hand's knuckles were red and warm. A year ago, I fractured my elbow, and this pain is much worse.

Also had fever and chills that made my teeth chatter and sweating at night. But due to my hips (with SEVERE groin pain), I couldn't walk & arms so painful I couldn't raise myself from sitting, and barely made it into the ER where I was given a steroid shot and a shot of Toradol to help me keep from just wanting to die. Went home with 10 days of prednisone and a bottle of Tramadol. I thought for all the world I had rheumatic fever because I'd had a sore throat as part of my cold, but the ER doc said that's not what it was. Blood tests in ER were

ESR: 91

RF: negative

Urine: Microscopic Blood

Lyme tests I'm unclear on (Ig something?): negative

WBC: 7.9 normal but high neutrophils & low lymphocytes

TSH: 2

Then and now, the pain jumps around, though at times I can have two joints hurting at one time. One weird thing...despite fever, my had has never hurt once.

The pain has decreased over the past month but still is there in milder form, jumping all around my body and recently attacking my jaw for 24 hours, the swelling and redness never has returned, but the tiredness and fatigue are horrible. Now, my shoulders and upper back are tight with knots...like when I've needed a massage in the past after stress at work?

Since my ER visit, I've had more blood tests

ESR 74

ANA positive speckled; not sure the titer (a month ago, I'd never heard of ANA or titer)

My rheumatologist also poked around on me (the knuckles on my hands, my toes) I guess to check for tenderness under pressure, but there's been none.

I'm being presently treated with doxycycline, since one of my doctors thinks it could be a mycobacterial infection and the other one thinks the doxy is at least ameliorating an autoimmune response if in fact I am not bacterial. Both of them suspect if it's not bacterial, it's viral. Also have done an exhaustive search thru family history where there is no RA, no Lupus, no MS...just low thyroid.

But the docs are both waiting for the magic "6 week" mark to see if they should press forward and try to find me a more devestating diagnosis (I know--LevLarry says it's not a death sentence).

Thank goodness one of my docs is an "out of the box" doc who already is using an alternative protocol to treat my hypothyroidism (the Dr. Broda Barnes protocol). Because at least that keeps my options more open.

So as of today, I'm on doxcycycline, Tramadol and 400 mg Celebrex/day.

I have taken some of this into my own hands and am doing as much research as I can. Have begun taking Healthy Trinity probiotics, daily dose of Certo pectin with grape juice, multivitamin, Krill oil, garlic supplement, and eating as healthy as possible. Also have begun epsom salt/peroxide baths (today).

I have been heavily searching the internet for the past month and have both been terrified by what I've found and also been much more educated about all this.

Glad to find this forum and will probably spend hours on it now.

Welcome to the board. My onset although not exactly like yours happened overnight as well. I too had negative RF and I'm still negative but my inflammation markers were off the chart and based on symmetrical pain, redness, swelling, stiffness, etc.. they dx RA pretty quickly and immediately started prednisone and then MTX. It took a good 2- 2 1/2 months of trial & error doses but I went from being non- functional to highly functional with bearable pain levels ever since.

Wishing you a good outcome as well. Don't be afraid to get a 2nd opinion. The 2nd doctor is the one that turned me around.

It is terrifying in the beginning-try to take a deep breath. For most people things turn around considerably for the best.

Good Luck!

Thank you, wanttobe.

At this point, my docs are not leaning toward RA because I don't have any morning stiffness.

It's weird that I can't find anything online that I fit into symptom-wise...

Stormee,

I had a similar beginning. I had been hypothyroid for a few years and was successfully normalized with Synthroid. Then I caught a viral infection and suddenly my body imploded. To this day I am negative for RA but do have PsA, CPPD, and OA. My Sed Rate has never ever been above normal.

That was 16 years ago. MTX and Celebrex and sporadic Kenalog [cortisone] injections in the joints have been my godsend. Add Type 2 Diabetes, which may also be autoimmune. Every time I get a Kenalog shot my glucose spirals out of control temporarily.

There's nothing like a great rheumatologist, too. I went through about 4 of them before I found one that really worked well with me.

I wish you well.

[QUOTE=Sam1234]Stormee,

There's nothing like a great rheumatologist, too. I went through about 4 of them before I found one that really worked well with me.

I wish you well.

[/QUOTE]

Sam: Do you think it was the PsA or the CPPD that caused your sudden symptoms? I've wondered about CPPD myself.Stormee asked "Sam: Do you think it was the PsA or the CPPD that caused your sudden symptoms? I've wondered about CPPD myself."

Stormee,

Neither. I've learned over the years that apparently you have to be genetically predisposed to a certain disease. In short, the disease lies dormant until something flips the switch or triggers it. So in my case, I believe I had the genes to make thyroid and PsA or whatever come alive if the right conditions prevailed.

For me it was a horrible virus that flipped the switch. Within a couple months' time [after I had already been diagnosed hypothyroid] I had the CPPD, then the PsA.

Over the years I've had Tdap [tetanus, diptheria..... booster] and that triggered a huge flare. The flu shot last year [not H1N1] triggered another flare. In short.....my body is on constant alert and any time a foreign invader [e.g., Tdap] enters it sets the inflammation cycle in motion.

So to answer your question, no, I do not think it was the CPPD that caused this. I believe it was the genetic predisposition and the virus that did it. My body is just hard-wired to react as it did. For me it was PsA.....for others it might be RA.....for others it might be CPPD....for others it might be Dermatomyositis or CREST or Overlap or Polymyositis.....list is endless because there are different genetic combinations.

I'm sure others on this board may have had different experiences. But I'm also willing to bet if people examine their histories carefully, they probably experienced the same relative sequence that I did.

I think, too, that in the early stages of an autoimmune disease you're able to take on more foreign invaders. But as the body ages and has been exposed to more and more interlopers the body has a harder time fighting them off, so flares become more frequent.

Again, that's just my take on it.

By the way, I caught the virus when I was on a short trip to visit my family 3000 miles away. Many months later I found out that my brother had also just been diagnosed with PsA [not CPPD or hypothyroidism] at the same time I was diagnosed. He caught that virus from me. So we were both predisposed to PsA genetically.

Sam12342010-02-11 11:43:21

Hi, Stormee! Just wanted to tell you hello and welcome! If your pain turns out to be only temporary (I hope! I hope! I hope!), please stay on the boards as a friend. :) Definitely get that second opinion and let us know how it goes. Hope you're having a superfantastic and extra-comfortable day!