Can someone talk to me about RA?
I went to the doctor about 3 months ago with painful swollen fingers-they felt like I had toothache in them. GP did blood tests-I think Rheumatoid Factor, ESR and CRP levels and they were all normal. She said my inflammation marker (no idea what test that was) was a teeny little bit raised but nothing to concern her really. She referred me to see Consultant at hospital just to make sure. In the meantime we went on holiday (Dubai so rather hot) and just before we were due to come home my ankles swelled up. They were so swollen you couldn't even see my ankle at all. By the time I got off the plane in London I could hardly walk. Ended up at Out of Hours GP the next morning who said it was probably a combination of heat and lots of walking causing an arthritic flare up. I said that GP had wondered about RA and he said it was very unlikely. He gave me Naproxen and some steroids but I only took 2 of each and it settled down.
Since then it hasn't been too bad. Slightly stiff in the morning but nothing Id really worry about. I finally had my appointment with the Consultant on Friday. To put it mildly it was a very strange appointment. She agreed that I had no markers for RA on my bloods. I have Pernicious Anaemia and she wasn't remotely interested in that at all despite that being the main reason the GP referred me (apparently PA goes together with RA sometimes). She examined me all over and squeezed all the joints of my hand and asked if it hurt. So I said no it feels tender (as it would if you pressing really hard on any small joint) but not painful yet she marked it as I said it hurt.
I asked if I could be tested for Vitamin D defence as lots of my symptoms seem to suggest that as a possibility and she laughed at me and said that was impossible and refused to test me.
At the end she said she will treat for Inflammatory Arthritis (which Im assuming is RA) and I will get an appointment in the post to see a nurse to get Methotrexate and another medication Hydro something??
I had another blood test done and then left.
No explanation as to why I need the medication at all. It seems a huge huge leap for me to go in with a slightly stiff and painful ankle to taking those medication? Im really wondering if I could tell the nurse that I don't want to take them yet or is that completely crazy.