Ok finally went to my husband's appointment for a Rhuematologist, we waited a month to get into this specialist. He was in soooo much pain she could see it after his exam. His knuckles are swollen and painful, even to the touch, his knees, hips, elbows are also tender to the touch, and in alot of pain. He still tested negative for RA and sed rate not elevated, which is throwing her because with the swelling and tightness in all joints she thought for sure the sed rate would be elevated, but no. So now she has put him on prednisone and wants to see him in 2 weeks to see if he gets any relief. She is not ready to say it is RA yet. Not sure what has to happen to get a diagnosis, but glad she prescribed him something to try. He has been in torture/pain for a long time, and we hope this prednisone starts to help soon. Does anyone know how soon he should feel it kicking in? What do you think will have to happen to get a diagnosis? If blood work is all negative, but the physical exam looks like arthritis? Also he has pitting leg edema, but she does not think that is related to the arthritis. I thought leg swelling is part of arthritis.
Did the rheumatologist tell you that 25% of people with RA are sero-negative? Meaning that the person has the physical symptoms, but the bloodwork is negative. Prednisone kicks in really quickly, but if he takes for an extended period of time, there are a lot of side effects. As for the sed rate...I've had times, when I'm flaring and my sed rate will be close to normal and, other times, when I'm not flaring, my sed rate will be extremely high. The sed rate is a inflamation indicator, so it should be high if there is any inflamation, in the body. I hope this helps...I know how frustrating it is in the beginning.