RA + FM?

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone!

My name is Iris and I live in Dallas. I was diagnosed

with FM about 9 years ago after a very long search for

answers. My symptoms began when I was 15 and all of

a sudden my right ankle began to swell and was very

painful. To this day it continues to do so when it

gets hot. I have never been given the answer to this

problem even after seeing various DRs. The DR checked

for juvenile arthritis and said that the test was

negative. This episode was the beginning of a long

and winding story.

When my Rheumatologist told me that I had

osteoarthritis and was treating me as such and never

said anything about his FM diagnosis I decided that I

could no longer see him. I found out that he had also

diagnosed me with FM by reading my chart that was left

in the room. He did not believe in subscribing pain

medication and simply thought that an

anti-inflammatory would be all I needed . I kept

going faithfully every month and began to feel worse

with each passing month. I was fortunate to find a

pain management Dr who was a FM believer and he has

been incredible over the years. This DR left his

practice in this area and I felt like my lifeline has

been left untetered. I dread having to begin again

and explain it all once more.

I feel as though I need to find a new DR soon because

I have begun to have an escalation in symptoms. I

tested negative for RA 9 years ago but recently I lost

a job because of arthritic flare up. My hands became

swollen, red and fever hot along with a lot of pain.

Being a graphic artist means using your hands and I

have found it to be more and more difficult to perform

my job. I wish I could afford to start the disability

process but can't do without income right now.

My question of you is; can you test negative and still

have RA?

I look forward to getting to know you through your

posts. By the way; I am 47, a mother of three, and a

grandmother of one.

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