Hi everyone. I'm a 25 year old male for starters, but I've learned that RA can start in the mid 20s.
A couple months ago, while walking a couple miles. I started getting a very mild ache in my right knee. It felt like when my joint got past a certain angle, I would get the mild ache. I brushed it off as a minor injury that might have occurred while lifting weights. Here, I am 2 months later. I've been out of the gym for 2 months.
A couple of weeks ago this mild ache started occurring in both of my knees. The condition has gradually worsened. When walking around for just a few minutes my knees will start to feel stiff just around the kneecaps. The aching feeling isn't as apparent, but this stiffness is just very annoying. It comes and goes throughout the day. I thought I might've had runner's knee, but then I started reading the symptoms of RA.
I've been very fatigued at work, nearly falling asleep a couple of times. On average I get about 5-6 hours of sleep (sometimes even less), so I thought that would be a major contributing factor as far as the fatigue goes. So, I started going to sleep earlier and would still be fatigued with 8 hours of sleep. The other day while driving I got very sharp pains for a minute or two in my left lung. This would happen occasionally since I was very young, so I brushed that off as well. I've noticed today that my elbows and my back are getting a bit of a mild ache as well, but no stiffness.
Now that I've finished reading up on RA I have kind of convinced myself that I have it. All of my symptoms are synonymous to those related to RA: Aching, stiffness, fatigue, chest pain.
I know the chest pains only happened for about a minute. And my knees are not stiff in the morning- just when I walk on them. I am going to try to find somewhere to get tested. I'm living in Vietnam at the moment and resources are very limited so I may have to fly out of the country. So, I thought I would get some thoughts on the boards.
Does this sound like the beginning stages of RA?
Thanks very much.self diagnosis by internet can be a dangerous thing especially when they symptoms you are experiencing could be almost anything. You need a check up..start there before worrying that you have something serious.Your best place to start would be to have some blood work done to see what is going on.
Blood results can and often do show no markers for RA, just thought I'd thro that one in.
If you start to get the same symptoms say in your wrist and ankles you would definitely need to press on to determine the cause.
I have had RA since about 30. Although, I do remember having knee problems at a younger age. Sixteen years after being diagnosed I do still have these aches and pains and sometimes I am down for a week at a time. There could be a number of reasons for your symptoms. Something you should definitely have checked. Good luck and best wishes!
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