I've had a hot itchy rash since last Wednesday that made my feet, ankles & lower legs swell up. On Friday I couldn't walk up & down the stairs as my ankles were so painful & I had shooting pains in my knees. Yesterday the rash was fading but I woke up with sausage fingers & pains in my wrists & elbows that spread to my neck later on that day. For the past week I've also had a sore throat, cough & glands in my neck that swell & these come & go as they please.
So I phoned NHS Direct who said to get some antihistamines, I went to the pharmacist who said antihistamines wouldn't help & I needed to see my GP. My GP is crap with appointments & always tell me its 2 weeks before I can get one so I went to the walk in centre. I did a urine test that was clear for viruses (although it had blood in it, that was ignored & not mentioned again) & she gave me a GP referral for that day & also mentioned rheumatoid arthritis. I saw my GP who wanted to do a blood test but my temperature is too high & he said it would interfere with blood test results so now I'm on antibiotics for a week & have to do a blood test next week.
This morning my legs are unbearably itchy, I have pain in my ankles that prevents me from going up & down the stairs sensibly ( I have to kind of stick out my arse & go up sideways :)) & when I do I can 'feel' my kneecaps. My fingers are useless, when I had to get on the floor to change a nappy I put some weight on my hands to manoevre & had a gruesome sensation that my fingers would just split open like sausages. I can't rotate my hands e.g. to turn a key or take the lid off a jar & my wrists are painful to move. If I interlink my fingers I can't pull them apart as they are so swollen & I can't make a fist as its too painful in the knuckles & too swollen.
I'm 36 & have no other health concerns.