Becki's RA Journey... my story p1

I was initially diagnosed with RA last month (3/27) after seeing the head of the Rheumatology  department at Cleveland Clinic Fl. Prior to seeing him I saw doctor after doctor trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I have had bad wrist pain on my right hand for months but around early to mid Feb it got so bad I couldn't even move my hand. I had also been experiencing extreme fatigue and just feeling I was "catching" something but never really did. This included dizziness, nausea, headaches, mild fever, fatigue, and chest pains.

In Feb I went to a hand specialist who sent me to do testing for carpel tunnel syndrome. I got an MRI, and saw a Neurologist. I then saw an Internal medicine/Rheumatologist who was the first to run preliminary tests for RA. I also wound up at the ER twice that month. The first time because of the intense pain on my arm and the second time I was admitted at the hospital over night due extreme fatigue and chest pain. I left the hospital both times with no diagnosis. The cardiologist that saw me the second time, due to the chest pains, said my heart was perfect. I had no elevated ANA in my blood nor Rheumatoid factors or any other signs of inflammation in the blood.

My MRI of the wrist showed severe tendonitis and bursitis and I was diagnosed with mild carpal tunnel syndrome on both arms. I got blood work after blood work done since mid Feb and towards the end of March the first Rheumatologist I saw told me I didn't have absolutely anything.I was devastated of course since he told me this even though I had been sick for over a month in and out of the hospital, had pain in all of my joints, trouble walking and even mild activity would give me extreme fatigue and left me feeling miserable. He encouraged me to get a second opinion yet proceeded to determine I had nothing other than fibromyalgia and prescribed me Lyrica. He also had the nerve to tell me that I should talk to my Psychiatrist and see if I was suffering with depression or anxiety implying it may have been causing my symptoms.

After I left his office that day I was very upset and felt under minded, as if I was making up my symptoms. How could he even dare to hint I might have some type of somatoform disorder? Later on that week I was able to see the specialist in Rheumatology at Cleveland Clinic. After the doctor reviewed all my prior tests and did a physical evaluation, he determined that I had all the symptoms of RA. He said that even though it didn't show in the blood, I could be in the early stages of the disease.

I had had an arthroscopic procedure on my right knee in '05 due to severe inflammation and loss of range of motion. I mentioned it to the doc and he said that it could have most likely have been RA that after the surgery may have gone into remission. He asked me to bring him the pathology results from the procedure and get some more blood work as well as an X-ray of the pelvis. I saw him two weeks ago and all of the blood work came back negative for the Rheumatoid factor. The pathology taken from the tissue that was removed from my right knee during the arthroscopic procedure in '05 showed to be synnovitis and the doc said that was consistent with RA.