Went to 2nd rheumy yesterday. He does not know what is causing my fever, flu-like symptoms and fatigue.
As far as my pain (low back, r. hip, heels/achilles, r. wrist, 1st knuckle of the same hand). He dx Muscle Tendon Resillency Disorder and started me on Salsalate 750mg 1 pill in the am, 2 pills in the evening since my symptoms worsen as the day goes on. He said that this can mimic arthritic conditions but this actually hurts more than arthritis. HUH!?!? And that there won't be long term damage from it and I will eventually get better but it is difficult to get over and I really have to take it ez. He almost made it sound like I can't do ANYthing and nothing too repetetive. He did run several blood tests and x-rays of my lumbar spine. He was going to obtain previous x-rays of my neck (I guess with how sick I've been I never mentioned to y'all that I have had terrible neck problems for years).
My husband and I liked this dr. but we are skeptical of his dx. Have any of you ever heard of this b4? I don't mean to sound like I WANT to have RA, but I feel like I have alot of the symptoms. Then again, my blood test for RA was negative.
I would really feel WONDERFUL if my fever would just go away!
Sorry for it being such a long post. Please respond, ask questions...whatever, please!
Thanks everyone!
K-Lynn
K-Lynn, what other symptoms do you have? And what were the very first symptoms?
I just think, well this is a rheumatologist telling me that I don't have it. I just don't know...
Ask him if he has any information on this disorder, or can tell you where to find it. Or if you have a good relationship with your GP, ask him about it. I would hate to see you delay real treatment based on this single doctor's diagnosis.
I'm negative too and have still been treated for RA for 13 years now. When I've been off my medication it's been horrible! Proof my doctors think that I do indeed have it.
I don't know. Some doctors are quick to recognize other symptoms and then other's are closed minded and have to see it in the blood. Seems like they are hurting their patience more than helping by refusing to say they have it. Even though I've been on treatment I still have damage from it. Imagine if my doctors (And I've had three now that all agree) had refused to recognize it as RA. I hate to think how I'd be physically.
I'm not saying you do or don't have RA.....but I don't think I'd like his dx or his treatment for it.
Don't settle for being blown off. If this "treatment" doesn't help you; seek another opinion.
He said "I am 99% sure you have this" and he opened up a drawer and took out 2 sheets of paper.
The 1st one has a picture of a human with the muscularskeletal stuff showing and there is a list to the left of the figure with different things such as finger flexor tendon, DeQuervain wrist, costochondral junctions (he checked this for me) and several others, all the way down the page.
The 2nd sheet says "Resiliency disorders of the muscle-tendon system" at the top and is a full page report on this disorder. I will try to highlight a few; When the muscles overwhelm the resiliency of the tendons by wich they anchor to the skeleton this can be called resiliency disorders. Dynamic, naturally active people in mid-life are most likely to get resiliency disorders, and not just in one but several regions. Work duties, farm and ranch tasks, certain home chores, gardening, sports, fitness maintenance, weight-loss efforts, musical instrument use, even just too-substained postures while driving can all be settings for resiliency disorders. The persistency and intensity of pain in tendon disorders, expecially "multifocal" cases, can be wrongly interpreted by patient and doctor alike as the expression of "arthritis" or "fibromyalgia". This may lead to wrong expectations and ineffective and untoward diagnostic and treatment efforts. Treatment is a clinically frustrating process for both patient and physician. Sluggish healing and relapses are common, not only because of the physiology involved, but because those who acquire resiliency disorders are slow to accept the "message" the body is sending: namely, that the muscle-tendon unit has been working outside its natural comfort zone.
The thing that strikes my DH and I odd is that I was not an overly dynamic person, in supergreat shape and go go go before I got sick. I was just an average person who worked and helped on the ranch whenever possible. I walked for exercise but I surely could have been in BETTER shape. I specifically asked this dr. "I have not been able to do anything for a year. So what you are telling me is stuff I did over a year ago was lying dormant and is now acting up?" and he said yes.
This baffles me.....but what else can I do? Take the med for a awhile and hope that SOMETHING shows up in my bloodwork to point to this FEVER argggghhh.