Could people charge how their Rhuematoid Athritus started please

[stifffingers]

I'm 15 weeks post partum and towards the end of pregnancy my fingers would kill in the morning, really stiff and would take a good 30 mins to warm up properly. Was told it was just the swelling etc it'll stop when baby is born. It hasn't stopped just got worse and worse. Now it's affecting me in the day, any kind of pressure on my wrists and fingers is painful. Yesterday I slid open the car door and my hand was really painful after for ages.
The Cold sets it off too.

The gp thinks we're looking at joint disease.
I'll be having bloods to check for RA. He said if that comes back normal then it's probably osteoarthritis ! I'm 33!!!

I guess I'm just asking for any stories of how both these conditions started for people, those first signs ?

Thanks

Sorry should also add, I don't have any swollen fingers but they are tender to touch. If I lightly pinch the sides of the finger joints they hurt. Some more the others

hacevyou already posted about this?

@Raspberry290 yes I have a separate thread running from when I posted a week or so ago. This is more specific to joint disease

I was diagnosed mid 30’s and my main symptoms were joint pain, stiffness and burning sensation. It would regularly take me a good 1-1.5 hours to get moving properly in the mornings so I was getting up around 5am so I could be on a train around 7.30am or I’d struggle to get to work in central London.

There were suspicions that it would be RA as there is a strong family history down the maternal line and so my GP was quick to refer me to the relevant department at the hospital and asked that I be seen by the same consultant as DM (and they agreed).

The other thing to be aware of with blood tests, if there is strong anecdotal evidence of RA but bloods are borderline or negative, discuss with your clinician as to whether you have seronegative disease pattern. I was lucky as my consultant picked up that my bloods were very similar to my mum’s and diagnosed based on clinical presentation so I was started on medication much more quickly than if they’d relied on blood results.

Good luck with getting seen and do push for a referral if the bloods come back negative as OA in unusual in someone so young!

I have a different type of arthritis but it affects my hands.

The first thing I noticed was that I was dropping things a lot. Then I got swelling in the mornings. Then I would feel like a toothache type intense pain in my joints to the point I'd tape them all up with plasters so I couldn't move my joints and aggravate them. Then finally, opening doors, cans, cutlery etc felt like everything had sharp edges and was digging into me. I can even see marks dug into me just from doing something simple like cutting my dinner up.

I also got extremely fatigued, which is probably the worst symptom of them all. No one can see how tired I am and I've been called lazy several times because of it.

The cold 100% sets it off. That cold spell we had just before Christmas meant I had to take morphine for a week.

I do really hope you don't have it. It's not pleasant 🌺🌺

Ahh, thank you both. My nan had it apparently, is it definitely hereditary ?

I don't have any warmth in my joints either, would that happen right from the beginning?

I had stiffness in hands during and after pregnancy which went away after a year, was told it was carpal tunnel

@hellosunshineagainxxx yeah I did think carpal tunnel too but the gp doesn't think so as I'm not having shooting nerve pains and it's not only my thumb, index and middle finger affected by the pain it's all of them

It was stiffness in fingers that started it for me, sorry to tell. After about 6 weeks of stiff fingers my knees started to ache. It was such a stressful time, I'm sending you strength vibes as it's a frightening diagnosis. It's better to know though. The period of uncertainty was worse for me.

I had no warmth. Mostly no swelling.

Mine was joint pain and swelling in my hands and wrists to start with, then went to other joints. Interestingly, the balls of my feet hurt too. I put that down to rubbish summer trainers, but it wasn't.

For your blood test results, if the Rheumatoid Factor and anti-CCP come back normal, that does not necessarily mean you haven't got RA, it could be seronegative RA.

This is why I'm leaning more towards it being osteo than anything as I don't have any swelling or warmth, well, my engagement ring has always been too big, but now it leaves an indent on my finger so maybe there is some very slight swelling but nothing noticeable.

Both my hands hurt but one day one hand will hurt more than the other. And certain fingers hurt more than others if I press the joints.
This morning my right hand is more painful and also my right elbow is hurting too.

I notice it more in the day when I'm using them, for example, lifting things, gripping things, putting any weight onto my wrist/hand

The randomness of joints hurting isn't unusual in my experience.

I've woken up this morning and my left shoulder is killing, it wasn't last night and by lunchtime it will probably have eased. It can flare up at any point to be honest.

Sorry to hear OP, I had heard that pregnancy can be a trigger for RA because of the hormones. Mine started with sore, stiff hands in the mornings which took about an hour to ‘defrost’. My bloods were negative but I had an MRI which confirmed seronegative RA. For a positive, I responded well to medication and was rarely bothered by it until my own pregnancy and postpartum where it flared slightly, although this was maybe due to the change to a pregnancy-Dave medication. On that note, some RA medication isn’t suitable for pregnancy and needs a 3 month break before you can ttc - just something to discuss with your consultant if you were planning on more children in the future, as there are other medications you can switch to for pregnancy and also breastfeeding. Wishing you all the best x

Thanks for all the helpful replies everybody.
Sorry to hear of posters pain from it !!

I've got a swollen gland in my neck today, would that be related ?

You can be rheumatoid negative so what the Dr said about it being osteo is rubbish.

Not necessarily hereditary. I have RA and osteo and no one in my family had it.

Oh!! Haven't got my bloods until next week so will just have to see. If it comes back negative what else should I be pushing for if it's not always a true result?

Does anyone know if swollen neck glands could be linked ?

Completely agree. Although my RF was through the roof, my consultant did say to me that normal bloods are not a guaranteed indicator of not having it, which is when I learnt about the seropositive and negative.

I am not sure about the swollen glands but I know a friend of mine with RA has some issues with her jaw.

Yes RA is often hereditary down the maternal line - as well as my DM, DGM and her mother also had it. My DSis also likely has another form of arthritis that DM had.

I had Still's Disease as a baby. This is juveline rheumatoid arthritis. Mum said I was the only one on the ward who did not end up in a wheelchair.

It went away for a while but came back again and again. It is now with me all the time! I haven't bothered going to the Dr or ask to speak to a specialist. What are they going to do? Suggest I take pain killers? I can only take paracetamol due to other ill health problems!

Interesting how it's hereditary down the maternal line !

Well, I guess only time will tell if it is RA or not. It's just crazy how my fingers have been stiff and sore for so long but suddenly it's happening throughout the day, different joints now being affected and with daily activity etc, seems like that part has creeped up on me.

Sorry to hear you are suffering. There must be something they could do though other than painkillers ?!

Interested to read this as I've got achy hips, back, hands and foot but for no reason. It's been like this for a few weeks, bloods came back negative. Feel shit but I'm sorry for others going through this too.