Please help identify my symptoms as I am really confused with the mixed signals
Hi all,
I am new to the forum and I am confused what this pain in my finger joints could be. Here is my brief profile:
I am a 39 year old male and having mild pain in my finger joints. The pain is mostly symmetrical in both hands. I have had random mild pain in my fingers since a couple of years which came and went but since September last year, this pain has persisted.
The pain is mild in nature. In fact, I would rate it 3 out of 10 in October last year and 2 out of 10 now. It does not effect my daily tasks. The pain is more pronounced in night and especially when I wake up in middle of the night. However, it subsides substantially when I move my fingers a couple of times within like 30 seconds. The pain is also not so much in the mornings when i wake up and also during the day. There is no stiffness as well. Only pain.
I showed my symptoms to a Rheumatologist in October 2023 along with my blood reports like RA factor, ESR, ANA, and CRP which were clear. The rheumatologist suggested that it is not RA and recommended me some multi vitamins. I have been taking those multi vitamins since 4 months now to no avail. The number of joints experiencing pain in fingers have increased since then but the degree of pain has decreased a little. And yes, the joints range in entire hand from Thumb to pinky finger. There is no other symptom like fever or tiredness.
I am really confused with the mixed signals that I am getting. Please help me identify what it could be and help me diagnose what this is all about.
Hi
. Your confusion and frustration are certainly understandable. I want to note that we are not medical professionals and, for your protection, can not provide medical advice or offer diagnoses over the internet. I do want to provide this article from our editorial team on symptoms (including symmetrical): https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/symptoms and this one on the diagnostic process, which can be quite involved: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/diagnosis. I also want to note that when it comes to blood work there is something called seronegative RA, which does not show up on the rheumatoid factor test. This article offers more information on seronegative RA: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/seronegative-diagnosis. One last thing I want to note is the Vectra-D test, which generally cannot provide a diagnosis, but in this article our contributing rheumatologist, Dr. Baker, described how she uses it to assist in diagnosis: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/clinical/vectra-score. Your rheumatologist should be able to assist with additional information and how these may apply to your case. Hoping you can get some answer and relief. Best, Richard (RheumatoidArthritis.net Team) Thanks for your response.
