rheumatoid or osteo arthritis?

[uptight]

I am 46 and have been experiencing sporadic episodes of joint stiffness in my hands which usually resolves later in the morning and with movement. Went to to GP 6 months ago and she did blood test, I think to check for rheumatoid arthritis, which came back negative. Have just had another more severe episode where the very top joint of all fingers on both hands was very painful and stiff all day and night for 1 week - is just easing now. Am worrying a bit that this sounds more like rheumatoid than osteo arthritis and read an article in the Mail online about it being possible for RA to be missed on blood test and how important it is to get early diagnosis. Have made appt in 2 weeks time to chat to GP again but just wondered if anyone had any advice in meantime.

did they do other checks, like ANA, ESR etc. You need a full bloods work up to get a picture of what's going on and possibly a referral to a rheumatologist. And have they checked for gout and lupus as these can cause similar flare ups.

I was experiencing painful joints in my hands and feet, doc ruled out thyroid problems (have they checked this?) suffered for about another year and went back. This time they checked ANA which came back positive for lupus. After a full rheumy work up, I've been diagnosed with mixed connective tissue disease and get regular check ups as many rheumy conditions share the same symptoms and I could progress to any one of them. My RF was negative but they are testing regularly incase this changes.

Much empathy; bad joints are the devil's work

thanks for that - I don't really know what blood test they did so I need to go back and ask some more detailed questions. It's one of those intermittent things so of course when it goes away I am tempted to forget about it but it was just reading the harm that can be done if you leave it too long that worried me.