not yet diagnosed, but worried

Hi, your symptoms are very much what I have experienced. My hands, particularly my thumbs, started hurting about 3 years ago. I thought maybe I did something to my right because it hurt more and the left is doing more work and I didn't give it too much thought. Went to the doc, she said tendonitis and sent me to ortho for splints and pt. ortho said this might be ra, have I been tested?. I said no and kinda dismised it, I played with the pt putty for several weeks, wore the splints but never got better. I went back 3-4 months later because I just woke up one morning and both my ankles were hurting. My feet/ankles never hurt. I walk about 20-30 miles per week work out 5-6 days per week at the gym, this is weird. Doc sent me for ra test, came back negative, did the whole aleve thing with NO relief and 2 months later I am hobbling everyday, very painful ankles and hands. It felt like someone was trying rip and tear my thumb joints from my hands.  I never noticed any swelling but a little warmth in the area like it had a fever. My doc put on prednisone for 2 weeks, she said if it helped it was a sign that it could be ra. I was the best few days I had had in almost a year by then. Went to a rheumy about a year after symptoms had started, still my bloodwork was normal so he started me one plaquenil for a while then added arava when my elbows and shoulders joined the party. And he said it was just to see what happens, he noticed swelling that I did not see. The meds started helping about 6 weeks into tx. He ran bone scans and mri's and they did show bi-lateral inflammation in various joints. He took me off the arava, it had some strange side effects, and put me on methotrexate. I've taken my 5th dose this week and I can already tell its helping, about a week ago my shoulders started feeling better, my ankles and hands are feeling better. I have left out alot, trying to make a long road shorter. I am actually on my second rheumy cause the first said I was making it all up. My current rheumy continually says that I am the weirdest case he has dealt with and my tx was imperical. I had signs and symptoms but nothing concrete, no absolute testing. I am glad and thankful that he believed me. He has said that he believes its ra and still says that I am the weirdest case. I am walking again, not like I used to and the gym is a thing of the past but tai-chi and yoga are enjoyable replacements. 

 It has changed me, it has been a long frustrating road, alot of tests, alot of tears, too much pain, no absolute answers to help me or my docs.

 I really hope you get the answers and the help you need. I really hope its not ra, no one deserves what this illness dishes out.