The painful wait to see if I have rheumatoid arthritis
Hello everyone,
On March 6th I developed a rash looking thing that covered all the knuckles on both of my hands in the photo, its never looked that bad since only having a small red circle over each knuckle joint. It only lasted a day at that intensity and I felt absolutely fine at the time, no itch, no pain, no burning, no stiffness etc. The next day and for the next month the redness was very barely noticeable and I felt completely normal so I forgot about it. Then on April 7th a month later or so I started feeling extremely fatigued each day that passed to the point it was debilitating. And on April 19th I started experience sharp random pangs in each of the knuckles in my joints. A week prior to the pain I did a blood test just for the rash that came back negative for RF, ANA, CRP but came back positive for TTG for celiac. My sister is celiac so its likely I have it. Since being completely gluten free for a couple weeks now my fatigue has become better but not normal and my knuckles continue to feel more stiff, and have little sharp pangs often when I wake in the morning and when I am doing things throughout the day like try to play guitar 🙁. The redness in my knuckles can look barely noticeable to starkly noticeable and back again over the course of even 20 minutes sometimes. So I don't know if it is some strange phenomenon since I also have reynauds? But I have to wait 2 months too see the rheumatologist to confirm or deny anything unfortunatlely. What do you guys think about all this? I'm about 4 days away from a month of joint pain now and I am losing my mind about what it could be. Thank you. 
Hi
. I wish we had answers for you. Unfortunately, we are not medical experts so we can't really guess as to what it might be. Did you get an official diagnosis of Celiac's disease or do you need further testing? Celiac's can cause vastly different symptoms in different people, depending on which nutrients have not been absorbed and what percent of the cilia are numb. If you do have Celiac's, it might take several months of following a strict diet to fully recover. It took my niece a full year. Your symptoms might be related to Celiac's or Raynaud's or they might be due to an entirely different autoimmune disease. When your body allows one autoimmune disease to surface, it often opens the doors for others. There are a few things you can ask your primary care doctor to do while you wait for the rheumatologist appointment. You can ask for x-rays or an ultrasound of your hand for clues as to whether there is swelling or joint damage. You can also get fully tested for Celiac's, if you haven't already, and make an appointment with a gastroenterologist for medical and dietary guidance. Keep in mind that it might still be RA even though your bloodwork was normal. Here is an article about seronegative RA that might interest you: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/seronegative-diagnosis. I hope your symptoms don't get any worse and that you get answers soon. Keep us posted if you don't mind. I will be thinking of you. - Lori (Team Member) 
yes, please keep us posted with what you find out and how you're doing. While I am surprised to hear that you have to wait two months for your biopsy results for celiac, I'm glad that you're in the process of getting that figured out. Now, hopefully, they can help you figure out what's causing your knuckle pain and redness! -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member) Thank you. Yes, I seem to have learned very quickly this year that seeing and organizing anything with any specialist in Canada takes a very long time unfortunately.
Lori has given you some great advice. I would add to request to be put on the Rheumatologist's cancellation list in case an earlier appointment opens up. Hoping for relief for you very soon, Jo (Moderator) Thank you I appreciate it. I hope to speed things up with the doctors.
Just wanted to update that I am officially diagnosed a celiac now, results came back earlier than expected. And being off gluten for a few weeks has made me feel like my normal self again mentally. Unfortunately joint pain is still getting worse though, and a couple of my toes have started getting sharp pains sometimes (although not to the degree of my hands), but still waiting for rheumatologist. Is it a common experience to have little sharp pains in random joints without visible swelling as part of early RA symptoms? Its been 38 days now since pain slowly started ramping up. Thank you.
Well, although the pain and side effects stink, at least you have some sort of diagnosis now so you can start to make some changes that might help. After thirty years of RA myself I can say that the things I have experienced run the gamut. I have the types of pain you describe before , but after three decades I'm no longer surprised when everything ends up related somehow to my RA! Let us know what the rheumy says and in the meantime hopefully you'll have some lower pain days. Keep on keepin' on, DPM 
, I can't really add to what Daniel wrote, but I am glad you finally have a firm diagnosis. And I hope that upcoming with the rheumatologist helps answer your questions and offers you some possible treatment options.
Thank you for updating us and please keep us posted on how you're doing, if you feel comfortable doing so.
Best, Erin, RheumatoidArthritis.net Team member.
Thank you for the encouragement. I really appreciate it. Wow 30 years. I'll definetly let you guys know when I figure it out. It's great a place like this exists
