Well, Now I'm Being Tested Because of Suspected RA

[ProfessorGAC]

Woke up one morning and every joint in my body was either swollen, painful, or both. I've had MS for a long time, so i knew it wasn't that.

Several tests later and nearly everything else had been ruled out. (At least as far as they can rule things out.)

Now i had a new blood test specific to RA.

On anti-inflammatories right now, but i know that's not a long term solution.

MS for 17+ years and how this. Man, i can't catch a break.
GAC

[Warpy]

1. Shit, I'm sorry, I've had that since my teens

I think there should be one nasty disease per person, but it seems as soon we're assigned one bunch of alphabet soup, we start to accumulate others.

The bad news is that it's incurable, it's something else you need to take care of. The good news is that many of the drugs for RA cross over and help MS.

Bad news, it's ugly. Good news, it's treatable.

Oh, and make sure they check you for Lyme, too.

[NightWatcher]

2. they even checked me for heavy metal poisoning

the rollercoaster that is autoimmune disease is a fun one to get on.

Yes, as soon as you get one, it seems you get other diseases to accompany it. I got both types of lupus, a neuromuscular, and another mix connective tissue disease all on the course of one week in the hospital.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. I Was Checked For Lyme

Negative. That test has almost a zero chance of a false negative, too.
GAC

[hedgehog]

3. I think they need to treat the symptoms. not the blood test.

You can have full blown RA and never have a positive blood test! Since most of the autoimmune diseases seem to blend into each other on the edges, I think the blood work is more for guidance than anything else. As it is , couldn't MS be considered an autoimmune disorder itself?.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. You're Correct. MS Is Autoimmune

Like Mo says just below, haywire is haywire. My body is doing it's best to eat itself.
GAC

[mopinko]

4. well that sucks.

but a broken immune system is turning out to be a broken immune system. haywire is haywire.
take care as best you can.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Update

They ran four tests for RA. Three were negative, and two of them have zero history of false negatives. One came back a weak positive.

So, the doc is unsure. She doesn't want to put me on expensive meds, only to find out later it was something else. Also, the most popular RA med is contraindicated for MS. So, i'd have to go on an even more expensive one.

She says it's possible that it's fibromyalgia, but there in her opinion, there is no highly reliable test for that. So, i'm just in the "see me in six months" monitoring stage.

That doesn't make my fingers less stiff in the morning. But, i guess this is ok news.
GAC