Rheumatoid Arthritis or Reactive Arthritis

couple of things to add...

My knuckled get slightly red in the mornings (only the ones that are effected at times).. (at this moment I have been pain free in my hands, The arthritis has focused on my hips and feet (any time soon would come back to my hands as it migrates). No visible stiffness during mornings... just the usual 2-3 stiffness till i get my coffee. No visible inflammation to my eyes.. Slight inflammation in the mornings in all my fingers (but i think everyone is like that due to blood circulation while asleep).

The other thing out of ordinary is all my joints crack and pop (which it never have happened to me).. thank u

Hi

I was reading your post with huge interest. I was a normal healthy person until in Feb 2014 I caught shingles ( part of the herpes virus ). After that I had lots of silly niggling pains. Then November 2014 I woke up in agonising pain all over. Joints were swollen in hands, everywhere hurt. Saw doc who sent me for tests. All neg. Crp, rheumatoid factor etc. Luckily I was still referred to a rheumatologist. I then had scans which showed rheumatoid arthritis. I have been on meds since and its still not under control. I am still negative in everything.

Reactive arthritis comes and goes which is probably why they are saying that. It's still treated the same. So push to see a rheumatologist.

I have done much research and there is some evidence that the herpes virus can set off RA.

Also whenever I drink alcohol my joints swell so that may be food for thought.

All the best.

Hi James.  I've had a similar experience, and strangely I found comfort in reading your post that I'm not alone.  I did karate three times a week, biking, swimming, very active and then started to feel very tired and lethargic and kept getting isolated pain (hip joint), which was very sore and I assumed was an injury from karate so didn't pay no mind.  Next time I'm at karate I can't even punch straight, feeling like I'm in water, and got a pain in my right knee.  Next day it was extremely painful and I'm straight to the doctor, who's convinced I've broken something and I have X-rays, which were fine.  I should say that throughout this, I'm having terrible sore eyes and blurred vision, swollen eye kids and bright red eyes,  I'm off to the optician convinced I'm wearing the wrong contacts.  Within days of my right knee going my left one did too. Very painful indeed and I'm back at the doctors but this time the lethargy and fatigue was intense.  I'm put on anti inflammatories and everything starts to creak and pop all the time.  Within days it's in my elbows, wrists, some of my fingers and ankles. Back at the doctors and so worried I'm crying and stated with panic attacks.  Couldn't go in work, get in and off the toilet, you name it.  Only swelling was my knees, everything else was fine.  Doctors did tests and everyone was fine (within accepted range for Rheumatoid Factor) aside from an abnormal result in my liver tests.  Conclusion is that I have a virus.  After much protest from my doctors I insisted on a referral to a rheumatologist due to maternal grandma having it.  

Cutting a a long story (sorry haven't managed that so far), regulatory gist diagnosed reactive arthritis and plantar fasciitis in my feet and was told to go on my way and just crack on with my life as it was before. I really don't think anyone I saw had a handle on how much discomfort I was in and I'm still having terrible discomofrt and swelling to my eyes ten months on, not to mention the fatigue which is crippling sometimes.  I've just started to get active again and go swimming but I get terribly out of breath and not sure what this is.  I'm tempted to re visit my doctor for what it's worth.  

What you explain sounds very similar to what I have been diagnosed with, although if have to say I don't really remember having any infection etc, just the sore eyes and tiredness I ploughed through due to impending karate grading.  I've since heard you shouldn't do cardio sports when you are poorly due to any infection travelling around and becoming systemic.  This sounds like nonsense to me but is pretty much what happened to me to be honest.  I'm a 40 year old female in other wise (pre RA, good health). Don't have the answers I'm afraid but wanted to share as your story sounds similar and we have the same diagnoses.  All the best!

Apologise for the poor spelling in my post, predictive text strikes again!

Hi James,

sorry to hear you are feeling bad. As a fellow sufferer of Anxiety I can relate to what you are going through. My first suggestion is to try and calm yourself. If you have a problem you will get an answer sooner or later. With anxiety comes Hyper-vigilance we tend to over react to every small pain or ache in  our body..we start every morning with an inventory to see if we are feeling anything different than the day before, it is torture and you must work to get out of that pattern (assuming you are doing this). You said you had been to Mexico..I travel at least twice a year to Mexico and I know it is sometimes possible to pick up a Parasite in the food or water. Maybe you could mention this to your Doctor and he could test you for it. Also there are literally 100 different types of Arthritis it may take a while to figure out if this is your issue. You have control over this process. Educate yourself and Advocate for yourself the more you know the more you can help yourself. I would request an ANA (Anti-Nuclear Antibody) blood test this will let the Doctor know if something Autoimmune related is going on. Sometimes when a patient is young like you they are more easily dissmissed don't allow this to happen. When talking to your doctor try not to leave without a plan.

Ask him what kind of test you need to get to the root of your problem or can we follow up, if and when if these issues persist. Try not to be depressed I know it is hard when you feel bad (been there) . But you must fight to be heard and fight to be well. You can do this get up..eat ..and fight..start making appointments look up Autoimmune disease see if anything sounds familiar. Does someone in your family suffer from Autimmune disease? Research.. Good luck James and feel better,

Sally

James, I wanted to mention also that many Autoimmune conditions flare after one has spent alot of time in the sun...

Did you come back with a great suntan? Also you can have symptoms one day and feel fine the next. Alchohol and diet effect the condition. Start taking notice of when you are flaring (feeling lousy, swollen joints and pain) look up foods that cause inflamation. After almost 10 years I was finally diagnosed with Sjogrens Syndrome, Mild Lupus and Lupus Arthritis. I know you won't have to wait that long because you are already coming to the right type of forum for help. Research!

Sally

Thank you Everyone for your comments. I'd like to share that I do Feel 90% better. I'd like to share the things I did that helped me with my recovery. As i was starting to feel better and sysmptoms were gone by 90% I came down with another flu which caused inflamation of the  heart sac (percarditis) which i thought i was having a heart attack, But things got better after i thought i was getting worst and there wasnt a light at the end of the tunnel. Things do get better. I implemented a regimen to my diet which I beleive it helped with my recovery. 

Please note I am not a doctor nor have any medical background. I'm simply sharing my own exprience. My father beleives that if a condition is developed within body itself,  it could also be reveresed by body itself. Therefore, he recommended I try some of his traditional herbal recipes which includes: 

1. A glass of hot water with 1-1/2tbs turmeric, 1tb ginger, 1tb cinnamon. 3 times a day 30 minutes before each meal 

2. boil 2 garlics in water, let it cool, and add apple juice to it. Have two tsb everyday upon waking up. 

3. Red meat juice - this is done by putting a red meat in a jar, close the lid and place it in boiling water. Eventually after couple of hours, a juice gets settled in the jar. ( Some people get inflamation by having red meat, it was never the case for me, i found that the red meat juice helped me with my energy) 

4. 150 billion probiotic pills ( this is the maximum I could find ath health stores.) 

5. branch chain amino acids( I used to take this to recover from working out, therefore, I started taking it as I thought might be beneficial for the joint pain) 

6. High protien, low carb,low fat diet , followed by a high carb cyle diet. 

Along with above regimen, I was also put on high doses of Ibuprufen for 5 days to help with the inflamation in my heart sac. (1200-1500 mgs/day) along with zantac to prevent ulcer.  ( but i do not think it contributed to my recovery as I was feeling better before I got the heart inflamation)

last but not least, get busy , go outside, hangout with friends, and try yourbest to force yourself to be like before. I know this is exteremly hard, but it does help with your energy level and overal health. I'm a hypochondriac, so this also added to my anxiety as I was googling for other causes and I noticed I was starting to have physical pain and symptoms that aren't usually there ( Mind is powerful). therefore, I stopped googling things and looking up diseases. 

I was seen by an specialist, we ran test for lupus, Ra, and other Autoimmune diseases and it came back negative, doctors still are not sure what caused this reactive arthitis, I came back negative for EB virus , herpes and all other viruses. They think it might have been caused by a simple flu that I had prior to all of this .

As of now, I do have some inflamation in my joints sometimes, but they are not noticeable, unless I pay attention to them. (specially by my shoulder blades and ribs(costochondria). ) Other than that, I'm just happy im 90% better, and Hopefully i would not come down with another flu

If you have any questions, you could always msg me. I hope you all do feel better. 

p.s Road to recovery was almost 2 month from the onset of the sympoms