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

Try and keep a diary of symptons, pain, fatigue levels, joint swelling etc and take pics if you can. Push for a rheumy referral. Having low markers isn’t indicative of it not being RA. Everyone is different and we don’t all tick the boxes.

Definitely still push for the referral; as you can see from so many of us on this thread alone, seronegative RA is a thing and needs a referral just as much as ‘traditional’ RA - perhaps more so as you can’t rely on inflammatory markets being raised!!

Thanks all. The nurse has made me doubt it's RA to be honest !
I did ask if they checked for the rheumatoid factor and she then said what the doctor has checked for is the same thing or something ?
And apparently the bloods said 'normal no further action' so looks like I'll have to get another appointment !

I don't have any swelling I don't think, the joints are tender when I make a fist, when I touch them from the sides, when I grab things and my wrists hurt especially when pushing the pram, and I do notice the cold makes them worse. So I was convinced it would come back with something...
just don't have the swelling or warmth.

One thing that is a pretty much constant with my hands is they get so so dry, all over my knuckles and my fingers, they crack and bleed they get that bad, I always thought it was the cold, could it be connected ?

Have you always had dry hands or are they something that started at the same time as your other symptoms?

It's not like there's just RA or OA, and that's it. There are scores of different types of arthritis. 100? You'd need to see a rheumatologist for a proper diagnosis.

Yes, especially since you say you have cracked skin, OP.

My inflammation couldn't be seen on an ultrasound and it didn't show up on a blood test. I also have small hands so they don't look swollen even when they are. It was only when I got psoriatic plaque on a very painful knuckle that the rheumatologist could diagnose psoriatic arthritis.