arthritis, joint issues in yourself question

[ThinkGutBacteria]

RIGHT! Given the context of this discussion board, we definitely can't overlook autoimmune-driven arthritis (like AS)!

 

See also:

Out of joint: new insights into the role of commensal gut bacteria in autoimmune arthritis

http://www.nature.com/mi/journal/v3/n6/full/mi201056a.html

[ajcire]

I have an appt on Thursday with a new rheumatologist so I will see what his thoughts are. I'm actually prefer a diagnosis of arthritis to some of the other possible causes but I just felt unsettled with the osteoarthritis diagnosis I got years ago. I have to go regardless though because I currently have no way to manage the pain of it which has gotten bad.

[reactive]

Like airial95, I also carry the HLAb27 gene. I do not have AS, instead I have another form of spondylarthropathy called reactive arthritis. The difference with my type of arthritis is that it is infection triggered... which kind of stinks given my chronic tonsillitis. The other thing I will mention is that some autoimmune types of arthritis can lead to other organ damage..another reason to monitor with a rheumotologist. Reactive arthritis can cause aortic insufficiency..and AS can cause heart damage too.

[ajcire]

I saw the rheumatologist today. Unfortunately today my fingers weren't really bothering me so he couldn't see how bad they get BUT he was open to talking to me about things. He agreed with me that it doesn't sound like osteoarthritis which the last dr diagnosed me with.

 

I explained to him about my ds and pandas and he did at least know what it was. He doesn't do pediatric so I imagine he wouldn't come across it. I told him I had to question if my issues could be related. Ad he said, "I'm guessing you know all about strep titers" and he put that first on my bloodwork script.

 

He had an explanation for why he wasn't testing me for mycoplasma and I know that I should have pushed him to anyway. BUT I still was happy with him because he still took the time to listen to me and talked to me like I was intelligent and not a crazy woman. Best of all he didn't think I was crazy trying to link anything together.

 

He also told me that next time I was having a visible flare up to stop in the office if he was in regardless of if I had an appointment. Said he will discuss bloodwork with me as soon as he gets the results. He said it sounds like an arthritis that started with a P..lol, he had an accent and that this type sometimes ends up rheumatoid which needs to be treated ASAP. He said the bloodwork will help him figure that out....but that if it isn't likely to turn to rheumatoid to just keep doing what I do which is essentially dealing with the pain. We shall see. Past bloodwork didn't show RA.