I've been diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis for around 15 years. I still go through health checks and have regualr flare ups although the test and checks always come back negative for inflamation. Does anyone else have this problem as these results often make me feel a fraud?
Please do not feel like a fraud. There is a condition known as sero-negative arthropathy. In fact, the arthritis research council (ARUK) are campaigning to have the rhuematoid and inflammatory factors removed from diagnostic criteria. So many people are left undiagnosed and / or untreated because of this. Join the campaign to raise awareness among GPs and rheumatologists.
Thanks for your reply. It does help to know it's not all in my head. I'm lucky, I do have my treatments and regular consultancy meetings but when all your test come back negative you do start to doubt yourself. I will look up sero-negative arthropathy and hopefully feel less doubting and more accepting of these results. Thanks again.
I am exactly the same as you- the reply is very reassuring.
It would be a great help if the people testing also reassured you the result may be negative and this could be expected rather than leaving you with the feeling it's all in your head.
Snap yes the same but not for as long nails just a bit pitted and look like some one as scraped them with a comb from nail bed to tip
My inflammation levels always come back normal or near normal yet I have significant pain. Totally confused by this, my rhuemy says the back pain must be my discs and not my joints but Physio says it's not my discs because of the areas my pain increases when pressure is applied. This disease just drives me nuts.