Does this sound like Rheumatoid Arthritis?

[Picklypickles]

For a few years now I've been getting increasingly worse pain in what feels like all the bones in my feet from toes to ankles, now I also have issues with my knees randomly seizing up/clicking and pain in the bones of my hands particularly around the base of the thumbs. It's worse when I have my period. My dad suggested it might be arthritis, I've had a google of the symptoms and RA sounds a lot like it. Has this been anyone elses experience?

Pointless trying to get an appointment with a GP these days, I have tried with no luck!

I'm not diagnosing you but I had the same symptoms as you. The doctor did a blood test to see if it was rheumatoid arthritis. The blood test was clear so I was sent to Rheumatology at the hospital and xrays showed it was osteoarthritis.
There's not a lot that can be done for it but there are lots of tips and suggestions of ways to help.
Good luck.

Big hugs, you have alot on your plate OP. As others have said, it could be anything and blood tests via GP will reveal quite alot, they're the first bit of the jigsaw & if you need referral to rheumatology & extensive blood tests and scans. I know SIX people with RA. All presented differently initially ie frozen hands, cracking jaws, bedbound, they're on various medications including dmards methotrexate & biologics plus alternative therapies. I have primary Sjogrens and will probably have to go on hydroxychloroquine. Mine was picked up on via routine blood tests and I had foot pain and hand cramps, weight loss, night sweats but RA was suspected initially but scans said otherwise. Your mum has AS so there could be an autoimmune predisposition in your family. Can you get a telephone consultation and ask for blood tests?

I have RA (as well as osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia). When my RA started,I felt quite ill,had a fever and generally felt awful. I was told this was quite common in the initial stages of RA. Do any of your joints feel hot to the touch?

Ankylosing Spondylitis is definitely arthritis. Keep persisting with with the GP and bring notes. All the best.

Thanks for giving more details, appreciate difficult. Although not easy, I hope you try again as worth getting a referral to rule in or out RA.

@Picklypickles " not even sure where the GP would start with it all!"
Most GPs would start with blood tests to look for deficiencies, inflammation markers, anomies etc which then points towards other steps

Hi I have psoriatic arthritis! Very similar to RA ! I had quiet a few gp appointments and a G.P without having seen me said I had osteoarthritis!!!
All my blood tests came back negative !
when I was referred to rhumatology (I have other things related to psoriatic arthritis! The consultant said it could be due to peri menopause, But I was sent off for MRI scans and that’s where it was diagnosed and inflammation was picked up on ultrasound scanner , it’s it’s arthritis due to immune system then u will need medication to slow it down and u have monthly regular blood tests to monitor you !
if it’s osteoarthritic then it’s usually pain medication or operation to replace worn out joints ! Hope this helps x

Send an email or a letter to your GP. If it is in writing they have to read it and respond. In the NHS, if it isn't in writing it never happened. CC the practice manager in to all correspondence.

RA and other autoimmune diseases affecting joints usually involve flare-ups and swelling. Nothing is a given though - some people just have constant symptoms with no flares, and I'm sure there are people with RA that don't have visible swelling. As a layman, I'd say your symptoms sound more like osteoarthritis (which is not an AI disease) than RA maybe? But in all honesty, AI diseases can be tricky to diagnose so you would need to see a rheumatologist to get any real answers.

You also asked what happens if you don't get RA treated - I'm afraid you'd need to see a rheumatologist for answers on that one. Some people with autoimmune diseases get worse and worse, and the swelling can damage joints (ironically sometimes leading osteoarthritis - double fun). It can also impact other parts of the body such as various organs, and it can get very nasty.

Others, like me, are basically fine. In my case, the treatment was giving me really nasty side effects, and my rheumatologist and I decided that the symptoms of my disease were not bad enough to warrant the side effects of the treatment. I have to get regular blood tests done, as well as scans to check my joints are still undamaged - touch wood, no problems so far.

It's honestly impossible to say which category you'd fall into without seeing a rheumatologist I'm afraid. Good luck, hope you feel better soon

I have RA, I was diagnosed 13 years ago at 37. Initially it was just knee pain, no swelling. Within a few months I had over 20 joints affected. Do not leave it. RA is destructive and won’t just affect your joints but muscles, tendons, internal organs etc and then your mobility. Persist with getting a GP app. Drug treatments have come a long way and if caught early the outcome could be better x

I have RA and I'm extremely unusual in that it affects my feet, I have to have an extra review sheet (where they circle affected areas) which covers feet as well added to my notes each annual review. It would be almost unheard of for it to only be your feet. So, I think you have something else going on.

Have you ruled out the obvious - wear comfortable shoes etc? Can you go to a podiatrist - in my area you self refer to podiatry.

The bigger problems are that you need to find a GP that works and you need to dedicate some time to take your health more seriously.

I've already tried to get a referal to a podiatrist for ingrown toenails but been told by my GP the waiting list is years long and unless I'm diabetic I wont be getting seen any time soon!

I wear comfy shoes all the time (trainers) so I don't think it's that.

I did actually have a very swollen knee - like a balloon - last year at some point. It felt very strange, like it was wet but it wasn't. I did actually go to the GP about that as the swelling was quite alarming, apparently there was fluid sloshing about in there but not sure why. I was sent away with my Ibuprofen prescription and told to get a support bandage, that fixed the swelling in a few days and not had that since but I have had the sensation of that same knee kind of locking into place when I've been walking about in the last couple of weeks and it keeps clicking. It only hurts when the locking in place thing happens. My feet hurt all the time now even when I'm not doing anything.

Op it sounds awful, hope you can get some answers soon.

That's odd. Ive had ra for almost 20 years. One of my first symptoms was my feet. I felt like I had marbles in my shoes/felt like I was walking on a pebble beach was the way I could describe it.

Keep pushy for a rheumatologist referral op x

I would be checking that you should be taking ibuprofen with having only one kidney.
My DS has kidney disease and its been hammered into us that he isn't to have any NSAIDs at all ever.

Bit shit as they do help joint pain

.I have RA, but like an OP mine is sero negative so didn't come up on bloods but was diagnosed via xray and ultrasound. I do have some bone clicking and very painful feet like walking on stones all the time, apparently my fat pads have gone on the bottoms of my feet and the bones have crumbled.

Maybe try a private rheumatology apt if you can? Not cheap at about £200 but should get you onto an NHS list more quickly if you do have it. If it is RA you really do need proper drugs to treat and stop your joints getting worse.

I'm not snippy.

The Op is concerned about her health and people are saying that it may or may not be arthritis. It could be one of many things. Her symptoms sound worrying yet when people tell her to go and see her GP there are a multitude of reasons why she can't. If we all came on and said yes it definitely sounds like RA she's not going to go to the GP to get it investigated. I just don't get it.

Pretty much every single comment is negative:-

Pointless trying to get an appointment with a GP these days, I have tried with no luck!
Why is she not having any luck? What's the reason? Has she spoken to the Practise Manager and voiced her concerns?

I'm supposed to have a yearly blood test for both kidney function and potential diabetes, booked an appointment and sat waiting for an hour before walking out unseen.
So she just walked out and didn't bother to ask anyone where she was in the queue?

Tried to book an appointment the other day to be told I can now only do this by calling between 8.30-10am which used to be the case for emergency appointments.
So she didn't bother to ring between 8.30am and 10am as instructed? She didn't consider that the system may have changed? Just assumed that the GPs are only seeing urgent cases?

Try Otovent (nose balloon thing, available at any chemists) for your blocked ears. Life changing. I have ank spond and I'm sure all this stuff is linked. Good luck!

How does premature death from a stroke, heart attack/other cardiac event or cancer grab you? They're all known to happen when inflammation is allowed to persist untreated for years.

You need blood tests to check CRP/ESR (inflammatory markers) and a referral to Rheumatology. The clicking could be a concurrent connective tissue disease that is also important to monitor as not all connective tissue is around the joints, it could also affect heart valves, eyes, arteries, etc.

If it is then diagnosed (or something similar) you can access effective medication and other treatments that can extend your lifespan past the 54 years that my father made it to before keeling over with cardiomyopathy in the days before DMARDs and biologics weren't available.

And if it isn't, you can look at blaming your age and your hormones (as per the current IT'S PERI fashion).

I can't get an appointment because I have to call between 8.30 and 10am and the phone is constantly engaged between those times, I am placed on hold and eventually the line just goes dead. How can I get to speak to the Practice Manager when I can't even speak to a receptionist without physically going into the surgery?

As I pointed out earlier in the thread I did not just walk out of the surgery without a word, after half an hour of waiting I asked a receptionist why I hadn't been seen yet and was told it wouldn't be much longer. I waited a further half hour before I had to leave for school pick up. I was one of about 3 people in the waiting room and 2 of those got called in to see a GP so not sure where this "queue" to see the nurse was.

Thanks for the info, sounds horrible. I don't expect my GP to show your concern though, if I ever manage to get an appointment that is.

I don't know what you mean by the current IT'S PERI fashion?!

Thank you, I was prescribed Ibuprofen by my GP, who is well aware I've only got one kidney left, so I hope its ok to take. I take them as little as I can, just one a day maybe a couple of days a month because I know they're not good for anyone to take regularly. I don't have kidney disease, I lost a kidney due to a big recurring stone which eventually destroyed most of its function.

Crumbling bones sounds scary, how do you deal with that?

I can't afford private unfortunately, I'll just have to keep hoping I might eventually get to see a GP.

Thank you. I have one! Sadly it hasn't worked for me, neither have nasal sprays or weeks of daily vicks steam baths!

I do have RA and have current clicking in what feels to me to be my hips. My Rheumatologist sald
its bursitis in one side and something back related in the other

my RA was diagnosed after I was being kept awake with pain in both forearms/wrists/hands. Too painful to sleep. On examination I had hot, red swelling on my hand. Confirmed with blood test. X-ray showed no damage yet. Was weird as it seemed to crop up overnight

I agree you need to see a rheumatologist somehow.

In the meantime, try a fish oil capsule with meals twice a day. Turmeric capsules might also help. If not - you should know in weeks - at least something is being done.