Hi Butterfly - I'm sorry you are having to deal with so much! Let's try and sort some of this out.
Sed rate is erythrocyte sedimentation rate - it is an indicator of inflammation in the body but it does not tell you what is causing the inflammation. Up to 20 is considered normal. Was your sed rate elevated? Mine was not much elevated at first, but it doubled over a couple of months.
Have you been tested for Rheumatoid factor? 70-80 % of people with RA are positive for Rh. factor but not all. And not everyone who has the factor has RA. So it's not definitive either way.
There is another test called anti-CCP antibody test. If a person is positive for this test, it is 95% likely that they have RA and a worse (erosive/damaging) kind. But even without it, you can have RA.
RA tends to affect the "proximal joints", that is, the joints closer to the body, like the wrist, and the first knuckles. Not that it can't affect the farther knuckles, but OA is very good at knotting up the smaller finger joints too.
Are any of your joints swollen and/or warm? That's usually an indication of inflammation, and might be an RA symptom.
Hope some of this helps!
P.S. If you have 'bumps' on the last joints (near fingernails) of your fingers, these are called "Heberden's nodes" and some people have found that vitamin B6 can help these improve, if they haven't been there too long, or prevent them from getting worse. But it's not guaranteed. If your knuckle itself is deformed, that's not a Heberden's nodes. Have you had an x-ray of your hand or fingers for the doctor to look at?
Hope to hear back from you and wishing you better health!
Ellen
Hi Butterfly - I'm sorry you are having to deal with so much! Let's try and sort some of this out.
Sed rate is erythrocyte sedimentation rate - it is an indicator of inflammation in the body but it does not tell you what is causing the inflammation. Up to 20 is considered normal. Was your sed rate elevated? Mine was not much elevated at first, but it doubled over a couple of months.
Have you been tested for Rheumatoid factor? 70-80 % of people with RA are positive for Rh. factor but not all. And not everyone who has the factor has RA. So it's not definitive either way.
There is another test called anti-CCP antibody test. If a person is positive for this test, it is 95% likely that they have RA and a worse (erosive/damaging) kind. But even without it, you can have RA.
RA tends to affect the "proximal joints", that is, the joints closer to the body, like the wrist, and the first knuckles. Not that it can't affect the farther knuckles, but OA is very good at knotting up the smaller finger joints too.
Are any of your joints swollen and/or warm? That's usually an indication of inflammation, and might be an RA symptom.
Hope some of this helps!
P.S. If you have 'bumps' on the last joints (near fingernails) of your fingers, these are called "Heberden's nodes" and some people have found that vitamin B6 can help these improve, if they haven't been there too long, or prevent them from getting worse. But it's not guaranteed. If your knuckle itself is deformed, that's not a Heberden's nodes. Have you had an x-ray of your hand or fingers for the doctor to look at?
Hope to hear back from you and wishing you better health!
Ellen