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Hi Meg, You're right to be concerned.  RA is in my family too, though none of my 4 sisters have it, and neither of my parents did.  It happened to both my grandmother, my aunt, and my cousin (the aunt's daughter), beginning in their fifties - and me too.  I had been having regular bouts of soreness in my wrists and fingers, tendinitis in my shoulder and ankles, TMJ, and neck problems for 20 years. My doctor tested me for RA but thought I just had fibromyalgia.  (I wasn't so sure, knowing the family history.)  The RA factor was positive, but the SED rate wasn't much elevated.  UNTIL :::  Ironically what triggered the first big joint swelling (my dominant wrist) was when an orthopedist gave me a cortisone shot in my hand for thumb tendinitis.  (Cortisone shots elsewhere since have been helpful, don't get me wrong!)   I had pain up my arm for the next 3 weeks and then my wrist swelled halfway up to my elbow!  An MRI of my wrist showed swelling in the bone marrow - ouch doesn't even begin to describe the pain.  And my Sed rate had doubled.   That's when I got scheduled for an appointment with the rheumatologist.