They found inflamation! YAY | Arthritis Information

I switched rheumatolgists!!!!!! So far I really like her! My old doctor had given up on me, I tried to get actemra but she really didnt help me much, she didnt advocate for me, its hard to battle the insurance when you arent the doctor, and dont have your doctors support!!!!!! but this doctor tried new things she had me get an MRI to look for inflamation, so that we would have physical evidence of JRA. and we found it! Inflamation haha im so happy, I never have physical evidence my blood work is ALWAYS normal. Now that we have the scans she is trying to get me on actemra, this time she is doing all the work, she is advocating for me and trying to get the insurance to say yes.. I think we will win and i will finally get actemra!

she also has sent me to physical therapy. She thiks a large part of my pain is caused by hypermobility syndrome.

I love her so far, she is trying new things and so far she believes me.

everything else in my life is sort of ehhh I left school. I couldnt handle it. Ive gotten a job and will go back to graduate school in a year or two.

Great news! Pretty sad to be excited about inflammation, huh? LOL
Glad you found a Rheumatologist that has your best interest in mind, and is willing to go to bat for you! Keep us posted!
That's wonderful = a good RD makes all the difference. Good luck to you!

Absolutely true - having a doctor who's advocating for you is 3/4 of the battle.

Been awhile since, I've been here, but wanted to start right in and say thats great news!!

Whispered, I like how you added in the chocolate! LOL :-D Chocolate always makes everything better especially when combined with tiny pretzels....say Pretzel M & M's! They are my new found love!

LittleMermaid, I'm happy for you. I've been dealing with the same issue. Bloodwork never shows inflammation and I have no pain to the touch, just constant, nagging, aching pains! Ugh. The last time I went to the Rheummy he looked at my previous bloodwork (which I purposely had done while I was in the beginning of a flare) and he said everything looked fine. I complained about all the terrible pain I had been in the 3-4 weeks prior to the appt so he decided to send me the next day for more bloodwork just to see what it looked like. Well low and behold one of my tests was significantly lower than it had been on the previous test which means what he thought was normal numbers for me was apparently elevated. I can't recall off the top of my head what the test was; not rheumatoid factor, but one of those that is an infammatory marker. Not that there's anything that we can do about it but, at least I now know that all that pain wasn't just 'in my head'! I just have to continue to take 2 plaquenil daily, which, until recently I was only taking 1 daily. So hopefully this will do the trick and keep the flares away!