Early stages of RA? Help with blood work results...
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My syptoms for the past 7 months are swollen fingers everyday for the first 1 to 2 hours. At this time that they are swollen, my fingers also feel very stiff as in, I can;t bend them all the way. Also, as I sleep at night my hips throb very bad, where they cause me to flip back and forth all night. If I lay on my left, the left hip throbs,lay on the right, the right hip throbs, and if I lay on my back.. my heels throb...lol. ( Not sure if the hip and heel pain are related to RA?) I can't win. Besides these symptoms, I feel pretty good except for severe nausea every time I eat for about 1 hour. I do have Hashimoto's autoimmune disease that caused hypothyroidism, but am on medication and my levels are finally normal. My question is about my blood work. My doctor said that I may be in the early stages of RA, just wondering what others may be thinking and if I should get another opinion..(as I do NOT think I have RA). My results from two seperate blood test are listed below..... one is from January 2016 and one from June 2016...
Test from january 8th 2016.......
TEST NAME MY RESULTS TEST RANGE
RHEUMATOID FACTOR 10.9 IU/ml 0.0 - 13 IU/ml
SED RATE 15 mm/hr 0 - 32 mm/hr
ANA Direct Positive Abnormal
TEST from JUNE 7th 2016.......
TEST NAME MY RESULTS TEST RANGE
CCP IGG AB <16 UNITS <20 UNITS NEGATIVE
RHEUMATOID FACTOR <10 IU/mL <14 IU/mL
SED RATE 8 mm/hour 0 - 20 mm/hou
ANA ELISA SCREEN NEGATIVE
As, I look at my results, I would think No.. that I don't have RA. But then what else would cause my symptoms? Also... How is my first ANA positive abnormal and my other ANA Negative? I appreciate any help and thank you ahead of time for your help....
0 likes, 6 replies
Rowbirdie sweetmelissa
Posted
All I know is that blood results may not always fit a clinical diagnosis and your symptoms sound very much like RA symptoms ( pain, swelling and stiffness for longer than an hour in morning)
if if it is- I know how hard it is to come to terms with, but soonest diagnosed,soonest treated.
sweetmelissa Rowbirdie
Posted
Thank you Rowbirdie... Yes, I was thinking that maybe it could be, but the blood work has me confused. Thank you for explaining that blood work not may match symptoms. I really hope I don't have RA because my father ilaw had it and he suffered tremendously. He lost his toes and fingers first, then legs. I have so much sympothy for people with RA. It's scary to even think about. Thank you for your help... Best wishes to you.
Rowbirdie sweetmelissa
Posted
If it does( sadly) turn out to be RA you won't be like your father in law. Biologic meds have been developed in last 10 years which have transformed outcomes for those newly diagnosed with RA.
also medical world is getting better at early diagnosis. That coupled with aggressive treatment modifies disease in early stages. The modern treatment goal is remission or at least very low disease activity.
have you been referred to a rheumy?
sweetmelissa Rowbirdie
Posted
jbjb93 sweetmelissa
Posted
sweetmelissa jbjb93
Posted
Thank you for your reply... it was confusing to me as to why my blood work wasn't showing anything. The main test he said was the ccp, but it only came back as 16 for the antibodies with the range of 20 for that test. I wonder if that means that I have Some antibodies? Should the CCP antibodies be at zero for a healthy person? Not sure. But I also have a another autoimmune disease called Hashimoto's and I read that that in itself can cause other antibodies to form in our bodies... Oh boy.. this is confusing..lol. Thank you for your reply! I am learning that the blood work doesn't always matter. Oh, and yes, my doctor explained that I may be in the early stages also.. so that explains why it wouldn't really show up yet either.. thanks!