Postpartum joint pain

[Kniko]

Hi all!
My son is 14 weeks old and for the past 3 weeks I've had serious joint paint that is really worrying me. I've had bloods taken yesterday as my GP wants to rule out Inflammatory arthritis but I feel like everything is point to this diagnosis. Just looking to see if anyone had similar symptoms and had this or a different diagnosis.
My pain first started in my right shoulder. I woke up with pain one morning and just couldn't move my arm up or do anything really. It made me cry... that's how painful it was. It got a bit better with some forced movement throughout the day and would then get worse during the night when I slept. I took paracetamol for several days and it got better. For a few weeks afterwards I had no more pain and then one day 3 weeks ago I had the same thing happen. I took ibuprofen this time thinking it might be inflammation and the pain pretty much disappeared the next day but my left shoulder started to hurt the same way. The pain would then move from one shoulder to the other. My shoulders are now fine but I am having pain in my knees (same pattern - one day one is hurting more and the next one it changes). Pain seems to move from one joint to another and I feel pain in my elbows, some fingers, feet, ankles, etc. but to varying degrees. The shoulders and knees pain has so far been the worse, if I don't take ibuprofen I can't look after my baby... I have no swelling or redness, but at night I feel throbbing pain and it's painful when I press the area. Does this sound like Rheumatoid Arthritis? Doctor said they are checking for vitamin deficiencies and for arthritis but also said it's likely due to breastfeeding. From what I've read it sounds more like Rheumatoid Arthritis and at this point I just want to know what it is so I can manage it but while I am waiting for the results to come back I feel like I am going crazy and looking for some reassurance. 😥😟

My symptoms sounds identical and I'm the same stage postpartum.

How are you now? Hope you are ok. What were your results?

I had this post partum too. All bloods were always fine, was referred to rheumatology who basically ruled out inflammatory arthritis after some ultrasounds and questions. My pain is actually a lot better now it's warmer. We shall see what happens in the Colder weather !

It's horrible to be in so much pain OP

My rheumatoid arthritis was diagnosed after crying with pain in the mornings due to my shoulders - I'm one of the 'lucky' ones who showed up a positive Rheumatoid Factor in my bloods so didn't have to fight for a rheumatology referral. But make sure the doc does look at the full CRP/ESR/Anti-CCP.

I found pregnancy amazing in making me feel 100x better than normal, and I practically skipped into the rheumatologist's office at 8 weeks pp saying that I still felt great. But she gave me a knowing look and said to make another appointment for 12 weeks as my hormones were likely to be back to normal again. And she was right, the symptoms came back with a vengeance.

But through a mix of physio and drugs (sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquine as I was breastfeeding) I did get to a level where I could look after my baby safely and get out and about.

Hope you manage to get some answers OP.

I had this type of pain. I was really worried that i had RA (runs in the family) and it turned out i was HUGELY vit D deficient. GP advised the strength of vit D to take (i cant remember now exactly but it was many thousands more than in a normal postnatal vitamin - i got them from Holland and Barrett) and it wasn't long before i felt loads better. Then it all stopped completely when i stopped bf. Fingers crossed its an easy fix for you too.

I had this and was also massively vitamin D deficient. Are you taking a decent calcium and vitamin D supplement?

Sorry for the late response, just seen your message.
Unfortunately my results came back strongly positive for Rheumatoid Arthritis. I'm currently on medication for it but it can take a while for it to start working. I'm managing on NSAIDs until then.
I hope this isn't what you have! Although from what I've learnt so far it can be managed well and there are many treatment options available!

Hey! Thank you for replying to my post! I also tested strongly positive for RA and I was started on hydroxychloroquine as I wanted to continue breastfeeding. It's not having much of an effect yet unfortunately but it's only been 3 months. They might add Methotrexate or another drug soon.

How are you doing now?

Well I'm sad you've got this diagnosis, but at least you and the doctors know what you're up against.

I'm a few years down the line now and while the sulfa/hydroxy symptoms did keep the worst of the symptoms at bay, I have had some joint damage and developed some nodules. It got to a stage where I knew something needed to change but as I was ttc no.2 I really couldn't start on methotrexate. My NHS rheum was really unhelpful and said there was nothing else they could do if I didn't go on methotrexate - but I paid to see a rheum privately who was happy to start me on a biologic based on how bad my bloods were.

So that may be something to consider if things don't work out after you've given it a bit of time, it's so important to develop some relationship/trust with your rheum. But I really hope things work out for you - how are you feeling about it all?

I'm sorry for the late reply!
Sorry to hear your NHS rheumatologist wasn't very helpful! Mine has actually been quite good so far. I was expecting that he'll push for Methotrexate next but instead they'll try me on Sulfasalazine and if that doesn't work I'll be moved onto biologics in three months. I did say I have plans for baby n2 so he said this will be the better option. I'm a little scared about starting biologics because of the potential side effects but also hopefully that I will get better. Which biologic were you started on?