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the flighty RA you're describing is fairly common in the early stages - it's one of the reasons it's such a difficult disease to diagnose at first, sometimes it hides and it can be hard to pin down.  I'm glad to hear that you have a referral to another doctor, because that first one sounds like a piece of work. I'd recommend that you do some research here or in other sites before your appointment and write down your questions - it's easy to get overwhelmed and forget to ask things. We have a great area about the basics of RA and one for people who've just been diagnosed.  I can also highly recommend a book called The First Year with Rheumatoid Arthritis (more about the book and an interview with its author here).  And take some deep breaths. Living with RA isn't always fun (okay, so it'd be more fun to live without it altogether), but it's very possible to continue leading a relatively normal life. That's the good thing about life - it goes on and you learn to live around the disease and get on with things anyway.   Let me know how things go?