Early Signs of RA?

Deanna in CO · Post by **Deanna in CO** » Tue May 01, 2012 10:05 am

Hi all,

I was just wondering, for those of you who have RA, what have been your earliest signs? I am getting some wrist pain that is gradually getting worse. With my history of having taken large doses of ibuprofen for long periods of time before my diagnosis of MC, I'm reluctant to try any NSAID to relieve the pain, but I'm wondering whether it's a simple injury, osteoarthritis, or RA - and how one can tell the difference?

I'm a bit young for arthritis at 46, but with asthma and MC already on the list, I find myself wondering. Don't really want to ask my Dr for more tests at the moment either as I've had quite a few at my request recently and they've all come back negative (at least by Kaiser's standards - it seems to me that when I'm taking 6000 IU of vitamin D per day, a result of 36 is on the low side).

If I did ask for testing for RA, what would I ask for? ANA? Sed rate? CRP? Anything else?

Thanks!

Deanna

Post by **tex** » Tue May 01, 2012 11:30 am

Deanna wrote:If I did ask for testing for RA, what would I ask for? ANA? Sed rate? CRP? Anything else?

Another marker would be RF (Rheumatoid Factor).

If both wrists are involved, it could be RA. If only one wrist is affected, it is probably a side effect of MC. MC severely affected a couple of fingers on my right hand, my left elbow, and my right knee. After my gut healed, those problems all went away, until last year, when another finger on my right hand began developing a distorted joint. A couple of EnteroLab tests showed that I was producing antibodies to casein, (even though I showed no GI symptoms to dairy), and my diet was apparently being cross-contaminated with traces of gluten. After some rearrangements in my diet, my finger seems to be stable.

Tex

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Tue May 01, 2012 11:45 am

Could it be carpal tunnel or another problem related to overuse of the wrists - like too much gardening/weeding?

I wouldn't worry about getting any more tests just now. It makes sense to me to wait a while and see if it subsides when you have more time without your eliminated foods. I actually have had more joint aches/pains from dairy than from gluten.

Hugs,

Polly

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Tue May 01, 2012 2:15 pm

I'm +++ANA and ++RF, and I don't have RA, so blood tests aren't all that helpful. The pain should be on both sides, and you might have red, hot, swollen joints if it's RA.

Post by **tex** » Tue May 01, 2012 4:42 pm

Zizzle wrote:The pain should be on both sides, and you might have red, hot, swollen joints if it's RA

Agreed, but when I was having the arthritis symptoms, my joints were red, hot, swollen, and so tender and painful that if I accidentally bumped them, the pain would almost bring me to my knees. The affected fingers grew crooked and twisted, and the damage was permanent. And yet the symptoms were always one-sided, not bilateral, (as would be the case with RA).

Tex

mzh · Post by **mzh** » Wed May 02, 2012 4:15 pm

Interesting. I have a crooked right pinky finger that gets searing pain in it out of nowhere. It hurts like hell when I try to move the finger to make the pain go away. I never thought it could be from the MC. I do have the HLA-B27 gene that pre-disposes to ankylosing spondylosis, which, interestingly, is theorized to arise from a cytomegalovirus. Well, I get to see a rheumatologist in June b/c almost every part of me hurts at one time or another and learn more about this.

Deanna, have you ever seen a rheumatologist? The doc would do the right tests without you having to specify which ones (I would hope!)

Deanna in CO · Post by **Deanna in CO** » Wed May 02, 2012 5:19 pm

I did see a rheumatologist many years ago for sore joints. (This was maybe 13-14 years ago, when I was in my early 30's.) She didn't find anything then, though she did tell me with my family history of thyroid issues it was only a matter of time (every female member of my family has thyroid problems, and both my grandmas had thyroid cancer). She even gave me a prescription for synthroid, which later doctors have refused to continue.

Not sure my current Kaiser docs would approve a visit to a rheumatologist right now. Honestly, I'm not even sure I need one. I'm just watching this wrist/finger issue and hoping the GF diet will keep me from actually ending up with either the thyroid or the RA issues.

Deanna

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Wed May 02, 2012 5:55 pm

I have what I assume is osteoarthritis in my fingers, some fingers look pretty normal but others have large deformed knuckles to varying degrees. It occurred to me today that one of my fingers used to be much sorer and would hurt a lot if I bumped it. This isn't true any more. It still looks bad but it doesn't hurt. I also noticed this morning, as I was unscrewing the French press to wash it, that the unscrewing motion no longer bothered me whereas before it hurt my hand. My dry eyes are also much better and I have stopped putting Restasis drops in them. My intestinal tract still has a long ways to go, although that's better to, but I think this all must be because I be because I went gf/df/ef/sf.

Jean

Christine. · Post by **Christine.** » Wed May 02, 2012 10:53 pm

Oh isn't it amazing what that change of diet can do. My lifelong psoriasis is absolutely gone! A friend's brother has lost 17 lbs. with unremitting d in the last 3months. He is going in for a colonoscopy (i told him to ask for biopsies) and upper endoscopy but I recommended he check out what everyone here has to say about at least trying gf while he waits. I am noticing that i have become a complete new convert on the benefits of gf, df etc. Now when I hear complaints from people that seem to have ailments in the autoimmune/ ibs/ arthritis/ skin rash catagories I feel compelled to tell them to try a dietary change. They probably receive my lecture with a giant grain of salt but oh we'll....the proof is in the pudding (whatever that means).
Chris

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Thu May 03, 2012 8:20 am

JFR wrote: I also noticed this morning, as I was unscrewing the French press to wash it, that the unscrewing motion no longer bothered me whereas before it hurt my hand.
Jean

Jean,
Just a quick tip about coffee-making in a french press (also applicable to middle-eastern coffee-making styles, even gold filters)....from Wikipedia, but available elsewhere too.

A 2007 study by the Baylor College of Medicine indicates that the diterpene molecules cafestol and kahweol, found only in coffee beans, may raise levels of low-density lipoprotein or LDL in humans.[43] This increase in LDL levels is an indicator that coffee raises cholesterol. The Baylor study suggests a possible link between cafestol, kahweol and higher levels of cholesterol in the body.

Paper coffee filters have a property that binds to lipid-like compounds which allows the filter to remove most of the cafestol and kahweol found in coffee. Brew methods which do not use a paper filter, such as the use of a press pot, do not remove cafestol and kahweol from the final brewed product

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Thu May 03, 2012 8:31 am

Zizzie,

Thanks. Cholesterol levels are one of those things that I choose not to worry about. I've been drinking french press coffee almost exclusively since the late 70's. I am willing to give up almost any manner of food (and I have) but not my french press :).

Jean

Post by **tex** » Thu May 03, 2012 8:51 am

Unless I've missed something, lowering cholesterol has never been conclusively proven to provide any significant reduction in the risk of mortality or morbidity. On the other hand, low cholesterol levels have definitely been proven to be associated with a greatly increased risk of a fatal outcome following surgery and other stressful health issues that require hospitalization.

I'm somewhat concerned by the fact that my last CBC shows that my total cholesterol continues to decline from the once-healthy level of 220-230 that I enjoyed for years. It's now 190.

Tex

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Thu May 03, 2012 9:04 am

tex wrote:Unless I've missed something, lowering cholesterol has never been conclusively proven to provide any significant reduction in the risk of mortality or morbidity. On the other hand, low cholesterol levels have definitely been proven to be associated with a greatly increased risk of a fatal outcome following surgery and other stressful health issues that require hospitalization.

I'm somewhat concerned by the fact that my last CBC shows that my total cholesterol continues to decline from the once-healthy level of 220-230 that I enjoyed for years. It's now 190.

Tex

That's the conclusion I have come to also from my readings on the subject. I don't even get my cholesterol levels checked even though my doctor gives me a slip to have it done every year. I tell her I won't take a statin drug and I have no intention of changing my eating habits to reflect current cholesterol "wisdom" so why bother.

Jean

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Thu May 03, 2012 9:04 am

I shared the info *in case* Jean was one of our members plagued with high cholesterol worries. Tex, I share your low cholesterol issues (under 150 for me). Makes you wonder what it's being used for.

Post by **tex** » Thu May 03, 2012 10:23 am

Zizzle wrote:Makes you wonder what it's being used for.

IMO, it's due to the inflammation caused by IBDs, and possibly permanent damage to the absorptive capacity of the terminal ileum. Research shows that Crohn's patients typically show a reduction in cholesterol levels. The process involves a series of chemical reactions that cannot be completed due to the inflammation in the terminal ileum, together with reduced lipase output by the pancreas, (due to inflammation).

The bottom line is that according to my theory, instead of most of the unused bile salts being reabsorbed in the terminal ileum, so that they can be recycled; instead, they are lost with the diarrhea, resulting in approximately 10 times the normal demand for cholesterol to be used as feedstock for the production of bile. As a result the body tends to slowly deplete it's cholesterol reserves, because of the greatly increased demand.

Tex