Re: no diagnosis, but plenty of questions

[Guest guest]

Welcome, Deb!

I'm very sorry to read of your search for an explanation of what's going

on with your body. I can certainly understand your frustration.

What you are describing about your feet could be peripheral neuropathy.

It can have many causes. Here are two excellent articles about it:

http://www.aafp.org/afp/980215ap/poncelet.html

http://www.neurologychannel.com/neuropathy/

Have you considered seeing someone for a second opinion? Have you had

any x-rays or MRIs? Aside from your markedly elevated ESR, were there

any other abnormalities in your lab results? Would you mind telling me

how old you are?

[ ] no diagnosis, but plenty of questions

> Hi Everyone! I have been reading your posts for the past few weeks

> hoping to gain some insight and I think it is time for me to introduce

> myself.

>

> In the past few months I have found myself going from a very active

> lifestyle of running and working 12 hour shifts in a warehouse where I

> do nothing but stand and lift heavy boxes to barely being able to walk

> up and down my stairs. It started in January with a very sore and

> stiff neck which would not go away. My PCP thought it was stress (who

> doesn't have stress?!) and told me to take 800 mg of Advil but this

> did not help. In February it started in my knees. I awoke one

> morning and could barely make it down the stairs. I would be stiff

> and sore for the first 4 or so hours of the day but then would usually

> be able to function. Within a week or so I was having pain in my

> wrists, chest, ankles and still in my neck and knees. I couldn't even

> get out of bed at times and it hurt to lift the blankets off of me. I

> went back to my PCP and they ordered some BW and put me on Relafan and

> Ultram (which did nothing). My RF was negative, ANA negative but my

> Sed rate was 91. My doctor was convinced that I did not have RA but

> referred me to a RA doctor anyway. My husband is a RN so I knew that

> just because my RF was negative did not mean I did not have RA. I

> then started having tingling and numbing in my feet with very sharp

> pain shooting through them. I can barely stand.

>

> The RA doctor ordered tons of tests and has basically been unable to

> diagnosis me. My SED continues to be high (now it is 105). He says I

> do not fit neatly into any one diagnosis. He tried me on Celebrax

> 200mg BID and now he has me on Prednisone 20mg BID. All of my joints

> are feeling much better except for my feet. I have been on the 40mg

> Prednisone for just over a week and have felt some subtle improvement

> in my feet but still unable to do much of anything.

>

> Well, I have gone on and on much more than I had planned. I am just

> curious if anyone else has experienced the same feeling in their feet

> and what is the cause and what has helped.

>

> Thanks so much for any input you may have. I am really frustrated and

> looking for answers.

>

> Deb Toms

[Guest guest]

Hi !

Thanks for the links to the articles about peripheral nueropathy. That

is something that I had read about and thought might be a possibility.

Tomorrow I go back to my RA doctor to see how I responded to the

Prednisone. He plans to repeat the RF factor, ESR, and ANA and send to

another lab. I hope he has some plan for my feet though because the

Prednisone really hasn't had much of an effect on them. The Prednisone

has helped break my fever and helped with my appetite a little. I had

lost 17 lbs in about a months time.

My PCP last week had me go in for some blood work for B12, folate,

calcium, and some other things, but she seemed reluctant to have me go

to a Neurologist yet. They have not done x-rays or MRI on my feet yet.

I had a chest x-ray and MRI on my abdomen (they were looking for

possible cancer).

I hate to seem so impatient and frustrated when I have been only dealing

with this for a few months. It seems many of you ladies have been

dealing with this for years. It is just so very difficult for me to be

so dependent on others.

Thanks again for your help.

Deb Toms

P.S. I am 34 years old.