Joints have started to hurt badly in past 3 months - what can I expect?

About three moths ago the joints in both my knees, both my elbows, and in my hands began to hurt real bad - I was diagnosed with Genetic Hemochromatosis about two years ago, and I have had joint pain on and off over the years, but now it is constant, and the pain is worse than I have suffered before - I'm really bemused that all these joints began to hurt at the same time - my doctor is making me an appointment with a rheumatologist, but I'm worried that he wont know much about Hemochromatosis and it's symptoms, as I'm always coming across this ignorance with health professionals (my doctor actually said ... "Hemochromatosis doesn't actually affect the joints does it?" - when I told him it did, he then had to go on to Wikipedia to see what sort of symptoms I could expect (I'd already been there - did that - got the T Shirt) - I read that phlebotomy can't remove the iron from the joints, and that it just keeps wearing away at them until they need replacing - does anyone know if this is true (I read it in an article in an online rheumatology publication, which suggested that doctors whose patients had needed joint replacements, should be tested for Hemochromatosis) - so, has anyone else had serious joint problems?

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