is there a difference between synovitis and swelling, could your fingers look swollen from having synovitis, what I mean is my RD says I have no swelling and my fingers don't really look puffy or anything but I have started to notice I can feel them rubbing off each other when I'm moving my hands and I never noticed that before.
No help here (when mine swell you can definitely see it). Hope someone else can give you an answer. Hugs and good vibes.I'm no doctor, but where tendonitis is concerned I think tendonitis is inflamation of the actual tendon whereas tendosynovitis is inflamation of the sheath that surrounds the tendon.flint, anytime you see itis at the end of a word, it means inflammation so
they are most likely to really be swollen. they may not look swollen to your
doctor but you know if they are bigger than normal. i hope this helpsYou can pinch and poke at something on your skin like a zit, and it will swell but that is not synovitis (inflammation of the synoviam of a joint - which is usually associated with swelling).My rheumy describes it as thickening of the joint. For example, my knuckles are much larger than they were before I got sick. I also get swelling (which comes and goes) but the thickening is always there. Hope this helps!
Hi Flint,
I have a similar issue, the sweling on my hands and feet is very slight, not typical. I have PA and the Dr's ignore anything that doesn't look like the typical "sausage-like" fingers and toes you see in the text books. BUT I can tell the difference and see the slight swelling. It helps that often one side starts before the other eg my left hand gets worse and right hand follows so I can show the difference and my left knee is a wierd shape and right knee still normal. I show the Dr's how the fingers don't straighten as well any more etc. and how my rings don't go on easily past my knuckles any more! It's tough but please persevere with the Dr's, I did a grip test to show how my grip is deteriorating etc. Today I'm waiting for my other half to come round and undo a twist handle that I did up yesterday when my hands were better - today can hardly hold my hairbrush...
My main feeling is that we know our own bodies and can tell if they are changing, the Dr's have training to try to help them to recognise these changes but they rely on us to tell them what it feels like. Perhaps sometimes the Dr's get caught up in all the stress of their jobs and forget to listen to their patients. Keep talking until they listen!
KT
I have found that too, it's insane that you have to work so hard to try to convince a dr that you have a disease that you don't want isn't it. They wonder why they don't make any progress with treating this illness and I feel like screaming WELL, LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE IT THEN - maybe then you would get some insight. Dear KT, what is PA? , please?