Arthritis ? or solely Fibromyalgia?

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Uncertainty . I have been to a rheumatologist  twice. Just to feel slightly confused . My Condition seems to be prevalent in the winter. (Started last winter, summer came and went and I have virtually no pain)

I Understand the concept of barometric pressure. And that this could possibly play a role in this condition

The first time I went he had diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia.

He gave me no chance to say.. I suffer from inflammation.

He put me on medication. Which helped me sleep and relieved the pain .

I went back to see him and he then let me speak and say I have inflammation and I know this is not associated with fibro.( three months later and Ive decided to leave the medication because I cant take it forever)

My symptoms are as follows :

1. Stiff in the mornings . Duration seems to be varying . Thats a factor for

confusion for me.

2. I have very bad crepitus in my knees and find great discomfort in kneeling , bending to pick things up.

3. Every night and only night time My knees swell up as well as my feet as the pictures attached . ( This is not found in my blood tests)

4. In the mornings / during the day my feet turn off blue / gray as the first picture presents.

5. I have PAIN most of the time in my knees and or ankles.

6. I have occasional pains in my wrists.

7. I cannot sleep at night because of the pain.

8. My joints(Knees , Ankles, Wrists, shoulders) in general are always crackling ( I know this might not be a

relative factor but it can be pretty painful at times)

all seems very confusing . I am 28years old and used to love gymming . I had to give that up . Simply because when I attempt any form of physical activity , I have tremendous pain and swelling which is especially in my knees.

I also just question people who say I should push through the pain and gym anyway it will eventually get better. I just wonder all the time if this is some sort of Degenerative joint disease should I really be preforming these activities ?

I would appreciate it if anyone could get back to me with similar symptoms ?Advise ? Any sort of response ?

 

2

Hi Angie. I feel sorry to hear of your discomfort and frustration at getting a diagnosis/effective treatment. You are right about it probably not being just fibro - as fibro is not an inflammatory disease.  Possibilities could include RA (rheumatoid arthritis) which can affect younger ages like yourself or even polymyalgia, although this is far more common in older age groups.  I had a very unsatisfactory appointment with the rheumatologist and got nowhere, other than to be told to take meds which firstly dont work and secondly have severe adverse reactions.  I dont have similar symptoms to yourself and sadly cant give you any help on things to help.  Only thing is to keep pestering the doctors to do more tests to try to find exactly what the inflammatory markers are.  Good luck

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Ask to see an orthaepadic surgeon who specialises in knees. They rarely prescribe surgery, my hand surgeon just suggest kinesiology tape! 

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A lot of what I have seen is that we need to learn how to describe our symptoms, and we need good communication skills and confidence to be able to talk it through with a doc. If it doesn't make sense to me, I simply ask them to clarify. Go from there. If you feel that He gave you no chance to say.. I suffer from inflammation. Make sure you say it.  In itself with nothing else have been able to develop good rapport with all doctors.

I've had about 30 ops, many serious concerns and I've never had that sort of response. Good luck!