Is this really RA?
Hi, I am a 54 year old woman, for the last 2 years I have been telling my PCP that I have terrible pain in my ankles that unables me to walk, that my right thumb is crooked and hurts all the time (he told me it doesn't look that crooked) and I am tired all the time, that my hands are swollen in the morning. He kept telling me that I am depressed, told him I am not depressed, finally after all this time I made a big enough stink that he ordered different blood work. My RA factor came back positive. He sent me to a RA specialist. She did more blood work, ANA came back positive, low vitamin D, CCP negative. She gave me tramadol 50mg for pain, I took one and it put me to sleep for 3 hours, not doing that again, also Plaquenil 200 mg 2x's a day, after the 2nd day on that I collasped twice stopped taking it, 50,000 units of Vitamin D once a week. I have been having chest pain now for a couple of months, going to sound silly but I can't wear a bra for more than 2 hours because the pain is unbearable. History: Heart Attack 6 years ago, little muscle damage on meds. When the chest pain started the first place I went was to my cardiologist and he did my nuclear stress test 6 monts early and it came back normal. The pain in my chest scares me so much that I am taking Xanax 3 x's a day to keep me calm. Is this really RA, I have read that my CCP should have come back positive. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
thank you
Ginny
RA is tricky - sometimes, you can have a negative RA factor (for instance) and still have RA. However, your symptoms do sound a lot like RA. Can you talk to your cardiologist about teaming up with your rheumatologist? Given your strong reactions to the meds, it might be beneficial if the two coordinate with treating you. Talk to your rheumatologist about your concerns with the meds - if you're not taking them because of the strong reactions you have to them, your treatment won't work. There are lots of options - other meds, lower dosages - and sometimes, it takes a bit of trying this and that before you find something that works well with low side effects.
The start of the journey with RA can be overwhelming. Hang in there and keep the lines of communication open with your doctors. Good luck!
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