Joint pain - blood tests say everything is fine? Cant be!

[kaykkies]

I've had months of joint pain from simple everyday tasks. Started noticing it in my hands then fingers, elbows, shoulders, knees etc. Activities such as brushing my hair or driving leave me in pain for the rest of the day.

Simple things hurt joints, general tiredness etc.

I went to the doctors who sent me for blood tests and gave me two weeks of 500mg Naproxen to take twice a day.

Rhrumatoid arthritis was mentioned.. but could be a various amount of other things.

Blood tests results came back showing everything as normal. After speaking to a cheeky AF receptionist who pretty much advised to piss off as ive already had blood tests and nothing showed.

The naproxen helped a lot and ive now ran out and i can feel the pains coming back!

Can anyone please advise?

It's all very well these receptionists reading out the word 'normal' from test results, but it doesn't help any, does it? I've had months of it and umpteen blood tests, similar situation to you.

Make another appointment and go in and speak to the doctor, and ask them to talk through all the results with you. Then tell them you are still having symptoms, so what next?

Hi OP ,
those are classic symptoms for vitamin D deficiency. I wonder if they tested for that , oftentimes they don't. You can ask for and get your results. That is your information.

With that info , you can probably get a much more in-depth analysis perhaps advice , at various places on the internet, even here on Mumsnet. Quite often ranges for blood results are very wide , and although you might be told it is normal, it might not be optimum. Just because 95% of people fall within a particular range , it is not necessarily normal. Vitamin D is a case in point.

                         Very often , you will be told that anything between 50   and 200 ,  is normal.    Well yes it is normal,  but 50  is definitely not optimal.   The same situation can probably be said for B12. 

                     IF  you can get some results,   then  look for a vitamin D level  over 100 ,  not 50 ,   this will be much better for you. 

 Here's a thread , which may have some useful info.    Iposted there , and on quite a few others here on mumsnet. 
                IF  you are interested , have a look, or if you need any more info , just search my nick, or  just get back to me. 

  Best of luck with it all.  

BTBH.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/3298347-can-someone-help-me-understand-this-blood-results-print-out-please

I second getting the vit D checked.
I just hurt all over.. my bones ached as well, I felt exhausted.
Turns out my vit D was through the floor, and I'm now on prescribed vit D for life. After a few months I started to feel a lot more human!

ive recently started taking magnesium after reading a thread on here. my body doesnt hurt any more - it took 48h to kick in.

I started having pains a couple of years back - felt like in the bones - only blood test abnormal was showing slight anaemia so was told to take iron supplements. The Feroglobin I took included magnesium and pains stopped after a day. I assume it was the magnesium anyway, something in it but includes iron so don't take that one unless you are low in iron.

wow so much helpful advice and support :)

I spoke to a specialist on my vitality healthcare with work - unfortunately I need a diagnosis of something before they can help.. She said sounded like a vitD deficiency. I identify with a lot of the symptoms for it! - particularly the exhaustion @StillMedusa - How if you dont mind me asking did you find out vitD was the issue?

I take multi vitamins that include for iron and vitamin D but maybe im not absorbing it or something?

Really appreciate these responses guys! - had a bit of a looser cry post phone call with the lady who gave me my results. Making me think this was all in my head!

I had similar symptoms, and the GP just said that my Vitamin D was normal, little on the low side.

I just take a supermarket brand high ate gth vitamin D, and a B Complex, and I'm fine. If I miss more than a couple of days, the pain comes back. Worth a try?

High strength...

all blood tests:
U+E
LFTs
TFTs
IRON
B12/FOLATE
CRP
URATE LEVEL

For me I noticed going without gluten/wheat made a huge improvement...in some people it acts as an inflammatory and now I avoid it I feel so much better. I had some tempura the other day...probably only one or two tablespoons of wheat but with a few hours I was aching again. I was tested for celiacs but nothing showed and the doctor said it was just something I am sensitive to

A normal multi vitamin won't have enough vitamin d in it if you are deficient.

I had blood tests for joint pain. I am now taking prescribed vit D and iron tablets and I feel so much better. Over the counter ones aren't strong enough.

With Vitality you can go to your GP and ask for a private referral to rheumatology, you'll have to get there approval too but if GP has referred its normally straight forward. Vitamin D can be tested with a blood test, mine was normal when I had these symptoms.

Definitely ask for a rheumatology referral

Everyone in scotland where I am is deficient in vitamin d. We get shit amounts of sun up here.

I take an inexpensive supplement. D3 is the best. D has to get processed by the body to turn it into D3 so if you buy D3 it’s ready for the body to use.

@elieza i will do im in NI.. We dont get much sun here either! Will just have to book a holiday

Have they checked your thyroid, too? As said above, ask for a printed copy of the test results, because there is a big difference in what most doctors consider normal and what is optimal. I suffer from sore joints and it is slowly getting worse. My vit D was tested last year and was good, because I had had a holiday in the sun. I had the same this year. My GP says my thyroid levels are 'great' but I have loads of symptoms, so they clearly aren't, but GPs are shit at thyroid. Menopause can also cause these problems.

I had all the same symptoms as you, bloods all clear & was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Ask to be referred to rheumatology, they can do more in depth blood tests & scans if needed.

Do you know what your C-reactive protein (CRP) measurement was?

If they didn't test for anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides (anti-CCP) they haven't excluded rheumatoid arthritis, but this would be an unlikely diagnosis if you don't have elevated CRP. It also looks like they haven't tested for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) but, again, this would be unlikely with normal CRP. There are lots of other possibilities that would need to be investigated (e.g. polymyalgia rheumatica, although your symptoms don't suggest this as the most likely cause). Is the pain/stiffness symmetrical (affecting same joints on both sides of your body)? Does it get less severe through the day?

@sirtobybelch i'll find these out for you asap. Need to collect them from the docs.

Im actually the oppisite of RA. Im fine in the morning and gain pain from daily activities. Eg pain in my knees, hands and arms from desk sitting. Pain in hands/wrists from things like brushing my hair etc.

Affects symetrical joints. Noticed eg both knees joined in the pain bus at the same time.

Im 26 so menopause and arthritis seem very u likely to me.

I identify a lot with thyroid symtoms (tested my temperature yesterday and it was 35.1 degrees) and identify with vitD.

Just want to know the source so i can stop the pains very slow process of going via my GP. Ive been at them for a few months to even get my bloods taken

I found my even though my vit d levels were high it was magnesium I needed. It really helped me.

Hi again OP ,
so it seems they didn't check for VitD , so you might like this address, of an NHS lab , that does blood spot test, if you send them in, www.vitamindtest.org.uk/ . They reply within a week by email. Rather than to-ing and fro-ing to the doctors. The lab does charge £29 if the test is not doctor ordered.

         Magnesium,   mentioned several times above, is a co-factor of VitD ,  it is required by the body to process vitD.  It is contained within chlorophyll....  so eat plenty of greens..!   Or maybe supplement if you do get much magnesium in your diet. 

            It makes a lot of sense to check your vitamin D level,  it could be the cause of your problems.  Even if you just eliminate it ,   it is still worth it. 

You may be interested in this thread , which has a more in depth explanation of VitD , I posted there quite a bit, many people with similar problems to yourself.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/2841497-If-you-are-vitamin-D-deficient-what-have-you-been-prescribed

best of luck ,

BTBH.

@SirTobyBelch CRP