rheumatoid arthritis

[jan01]

ummm my gp was convinced that i have all symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis although blood test appear normal ...... where on earth is going on?? !

[Pea Pod]

Are you a member of the Library, I have just taken a book out simply called Arthritis. It gives comprehensive details of all types plus treatments etc. It is published by Dorling and Kindersley.

[shaneystar2]

The tests can appear normal .
RA factors can be a bit up and down .Depends on the amount of inflammation and when you have the test .It could be borderline which is why it doesn't always show up on the test.

[Sqad]

30% of patients with all the classical symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis are sero negative (blood tests normal) at the start of their illness and become sero positive as the disease progresses.

There are cases of sero negative arthritis, but that doesn't apply to you at the moment.

[Eve]

Does your GP mean inflammation bloods like ESR and CRP or slightly more specific like RF factor? Some people have RF factor without having rhumatoid arthritis (or at least symptoms) and it can go up and down, same with the inflammatory markers.

I don't think I had an RF factor originally on some tests but do now and my inflammation markers go up and down though are usually raised.

There are many different types of arthritis and similar conditions, loads of them! Some have different blood markers and levels can go up and down.

What are your symptoms and how long have you had them? If there is a suspicion of something like rhumatoid arthritis and you have symptoms then have they referred you to a rhumatologist?

Doesn't mean to say it is though, my GP was convinced I had glandular fever a while back and based on test results but more specific tests came back negative.

[Eve]

Confession to sqad, for a while when I was being tested for Crohns etc... in case my arthritis was related I'd seen the term sero negative used and for a long time thought it actually was serogenative and used it as an actual term (hangs head in shame and beats about it with a medical dictionary) which is bad considering the right name makes far more sense linguistically!

[Sqad]

Jenna.....LOL....my medical faux pas would dwarf your solitary confessions and if i had a pound for each one over the years would be a very rich man;-)
You have an excellent medical knowledge of teh rheumatic disorders and well researched.

[Eve]

Ahh thank you :) Vested interest helps I guess and it helps make more sense of the evil arthritis anyway and what's going on and I went to a patient education morning recently run by my rhumo nurse which was really interesting and learn a lot of things I'd never known from googling, really interesting.

[jazzie07]

What are the symptoms that you are experiencing? Rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, particularly in the early stages vary differently from person to person. Living with RA? You may qualify for a research study in your area http://www.sirroundprogram.com