Hi Snowball, pleased your blood tests are normal, however that just rules out rheumatoid arthritis as mentioned in earlier posts. I have osteoarthritis of the hip, lower back and knee, all confirmed on xray. I have seen my GP several times and I just wonder how bad I have to be before being referred to a consultant. I am just told 'You have arthritis, just take the painkillers'. I am posting this in answer to Anngel123's input. I know that the GP's don't like referring on due to the costs to our surgery.