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Thanks for the insight, we will be seeing his doctor again, but not for awhile. It takes, at least 3 weeks to get an appointment with him unless it is an emer. We will ask him about this and what he thinks. I do think, it isn't terrible important which it is, at this time, as we are in our late 70s. BTW, you say, clinically, what do you mean? I will add, even the knee problems were discovered by accident. He had fallen and injured his knee. The doctor did take x-rays and was shocked to find, his right knee (not the one he had injured) was very bad, but it never hurts him and never has. His only real problem is, the inability to get up and down easily. This is why there is concern about it being in his hips. I will had, his hands are fine except a little weak.
In the absence of positive blood results, you can be diagnosed by the array of symptoms, and by ruling out other disorders. There are multiple types of autoimmune arthritis, not just RA. You may have seen the commercials with Phil Mickelson, the golfer, who was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. There are others. Fortunately, they can mostly be treated with the same medications, as the underlying problem -autoimmune disorder - is common among them.
Hope this helps, and I wish your husband well. It's tough not to be able to get around well, no matter what your age.
Thanks Emeraldmaiden and SoutherBelleInUtah, but if I have RA, aren't anti-inflamatories really bad for you?
I do suspect I have RA as I have hashimotos thyroiditis and have been told that it's a sideline of that. I do have lots of pain (and changes happening) in my fingers. My mom has (and grandmother had) gnarled up fingers.
I will find out though, does anyone know the particular test to get?
If your doctor suspects you of having it, they should do a rheumatoid factor but there are many many other lab tests the would also run in conjunction with that.
I am not arguing about this and the tests cause I only have very basic knowledge, but I do know: a simple blood test will determine if someone has RA. My husband just went through this, luckily he does not. His dad did and eventually died of a stroke from over taking pain meds. This was 4o plus years ago, when there wasn't much that could be done. Anyway, hubby is clear. I think the involved tests and questionnaires you might be talking about would be given if a simple blood test indicated more testing was needed.
Now, we have learned hubby has OA in his knees and are thinking this is in his hips or lower back as well. He will have more x-rays to determine if this is the case in a few months, if not sooner.
This is not the case. For several years, I had what is known as Seronegative Rheumatoid Arthritis. My labs were perfectly normal. It is only within the last year or two that my labs have shown as a person with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I had all of the same symptoms all along, but some have worsened as of late.
Please do not be mistaken in thinking that a blood test can determine whether or not you have RA. Even when all of my labs were normal, I had some specialized labwork done and I was shown to have high levels of disease activity.
It is not black and white. This disease is very grey.
Thanks for the insight, we will be seeing his doctor again, but not for awhile. It takes, at least 3 weeks to get an appointment with him unless it is an emer. We will ask him about this and what he thinks. I do think, it isn't terrible important which it is, at this time, as we are in our late 70s. BTW, you say, clinically, what do you mean? I will add, even the knee problems were discovered by accident. He had fallen and injured his knee. The doctor did take x-rays and was shocked to find, his right knee (not the one he had injured) was very bad, but it never hurts him and never has. His only real problem is, the inability to get up and down easily. This is why there is concern about it being in his hips. I will had, his hands are fine except a little weak.
Nmnita, I have a feeling your husband as Osteoarthritis. It is more of a wear and tear on the joints from use over the years. It can be a bit painful when you use your joints but nothing like the pain of RA.
My RA pain is just there. I do not have to lift a finger and the pain is there.
WHat did his dr do for treatment after he saw his knees? Do you know what labs they ran?
The reverse can also happen: you can test positive for RF without any clinical signs. RF and ANA have false positives, especially amongst people as they age. If you test positive for ANA, they will usually do a panel via instrumentation to see if you are positive for any of the markers within ANA---anti-SSA/SSB/dsDNA/etc. or indirect fluorescent antibody to look for patterns---homogenous, speckled, etc. Some of these things might not show anything, whereas some of them might suggest/eliminate certain conditions. (Sjogren's, for one.) There are actually many, many markers that probably require a sample to be sent to a reference lab because most smaller labs will not run them.
You'll need to see a rhuematologist (not spelled correctly), as treatment is different for each. RA is immune based and you will want something specifically for that. RA is degenerative, so if you have that it can get worse, and deform those joints.
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Rheumatoid arthritis ran in my mother's family (I don't think I have it, hope not). In some cases it can be related to the foods you eat, namely the foods in the nightshade family. I also had an uncle who got RA and I remember him telling me it went away once he eliminated all citrus products from his diet. That was the first time I had heard of a food connection.
For my mother, hers went away if she eliminated the nightshade family (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant--all related) but she decided she'd rather put up with the RA than stop eating potatoes and tomatoes. It's sort of like having a food allergy or intolerance. Many times that's what's causing the inflammation.
I don't know if doctors tell people about that aspect of it but it sure sounds a lot better than taking anti-inflammatory drugs.
Nmnita, I have a feeling your husband as Osteoarthritis. It is more of a wear and tear on the joints from use over the years. It can be a bit painful when you use your joints but nothing like the pain of RA.
My RA pain is just there. I do not have to lift a finger and the pain is there.
WHat did his dr do for treatment after he saw his knees? Do you know what labs they ran?
That is exactly what his doctor has said and indicated. So far 2 types of blood tests were run. Well, lets put it this way, twice blood tests were run to determine if he had RA and/or a few other diseases. In both case RA was ruled out. Maybe the doctor is missing something, I don't know, but it does sound more like OA. As I said, hubby's father did have RA and was pretty much crippled by the time he was 50ish.
Rheumatoid arthritis ran in my mother's family (I don't think I have it, hope not). In some cases it can be related to the foods you eat, namely the foods in the nightshade family. I also had an uncle who got RA and I remember him telling me it went away once he eliminated all citrus products from his diet. That was the first time I had heard of a food connection.
For my mother, hers went away if she eliminated the nightshade family (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant--all related) but she decided she'd rather put up with the RA than stop eating potatoes and tomatoes. It's sort of like having a food allergy or intolerance. Many times that's what's causing the inflammation.
I don't know if doctors tell people about that aspect of it but it sure sounds a lot better than taking anti-inflammatory drugs.
very interesting and possibly there is some truth to what they experienced. I am sure, most doctors do not mention this. It certainly would be worth a try for a short period of time anyway.
Isn't one of the determining factors that RA tends to be in both sides (both hands, and/or both feet, etc.) and OA can just be in one spot?
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