Does anyone know anything about arthritis?

[Frayedknot]

Since ds was born (19 months ago) I have been suffering on and off from painful, stiff joints. I had some investigations last year which didn;t reveal much, and it seemed to go off a bit over the summer. Now it seems to be back, and I am finding it difficult to do basic things with my hands, like unscrew jars, type, etc.

It is not that painful, more the stiffness. I also get really tired. The joints are not obviously swollen.

Dr has suggested more blood tests.

I am quite worried this could be the start of something serious. Anyone any experience of this type of thing?

yes

but until you actually have a diagnosis it may be jumping the gun

it is most probably still the hormone relaxin going through your body which could naturally cause these pains and stiffness

I assume you're going to have an ESR (or SED rate) blood test to see if there are unusual inflammation levels

there are also many differrent types of arthritis

relaxin is designed to soften things so you can give birth it stays in the body for around a year post-birth btw

if you have a particular quesiton re arthritis I'm happy to answer (if I can)

Thanks Twiglett. I was tested last year for rheumatoid and the test was negative. Is that the ESR test you refer to?

I believe the sed test is a generic test that tests to see the level of inflammation in the body .. arthritis is generally an auto-immune disorder that results in inflammation around the joint (hence the pain / stiffness) .. although I'm not sure whether osteo-arthritis would show in blood tests because that's mainly wear and tear

does your gp still suspect arthritis?

I'm not a medical person btw .. just interested layperson

I have changed GP because we have moved, so Dr wants to repeat tests, so I'm not sure what he thinks! He doesn;t know much about my history so is going to dig my notes out for next appt.

I am quite frightened it might be something serious. OTH I want to find out as it's affecting my day to day life.

Is it your dh who has arthritis, I think I read on another thread?

yup

but so does a friend who gets an occasional ache / stiffness in her fingers that lasts a few hours and goes .. she's had that for about 22 years now .. never progressed and easily managed with a little ibuprofen

I just would try not to worry about arthritis .. because it could be something or nothing .. much easier to say than do I know

Which joints does it affect frayedknot?

I am just having major blood tests for sore, achy joints. I noticed on the blood test form that ESR was a different box to the Rheumatoid Arthritis box.

as I understand it fox the esr (or sed test) is just a general blood test though .. it is used in conjunction with other info (history / symptoms / other tests) .. it can be used to detect an infection / anaemia or inflammation

aaahhh thanks for that

I was going to look it all up (there's a very good site that explains exactly what all the jargon means on the blood test form) but thought I wouldn't as I'm quite concerned at what they are going to find so I thought ignorance is bliss until the results are through.

What type of arthritis does your dh have?