RA POSITIVE, rest of blood work normal, no diagnosis

By yoretheresa

1 min read

Hoping for answers...

My story began just a few months ago. I woke up one morning with my right big toe kinked, felt like it came out of its socket. I thought maybe I slept wrong. Tried wiggling and it finally snapped back into place. This went on every morning with lots of discomfort creeping into the arch of my foot. 5 days later I woke up in morning with my right index finger kinked also! Few days later it was also my right thumb! Every morning so far I am waking up to this ordeal but each day is getting worse with pain. Now I have constant pain on both sides of body. Knees, hands, legs, feet, fingers, toes. Low grade fever all the time. Lots of fatigue involved too. I tested RA factor positive with first test given by my physician. He referred me to rheumatologist. Seen Rheumatologist 2 days ago. 9 viles of blood work later, everything came back negative except RA factor came back positive. She called it borderline. It was 36.4. The first one was 36. Do not know results from x-rays of my hands and feet yet. Since I have seen her my pain is getting stronger. I am to take Diclofenac sodium 50mg twice a day. So far no relief. Has anyone had lab work come back like this? Anyone have these symptoms? I don't know what to make of all this!

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suanne Member
<p>Hi, I have been adjusting my diet (I was going Paleo, which basically avoids sugars , starches and processed foods, but am now trying the Dr. Hay’s Way diet (basically, I stagger my meals with starch/fruit or vegetable and my meals with protein/fruit or vegetable, so that I get both during the day, but not together, as recommended by Dr. Hay, in the early 1900’s). Part of the “Way” also included a parasite cleanse, using food grade hydrogen peroxide in water and then enimas to clean the dead parasites and their waste out of the intestines.. it’s a process, I haven’t yet tried, but plan to. An orange juice fast is also involved somehow in the process - I'm still researching, lol! Supposedly, Dr. Hay cured incurable auto-immune diseases in this way. I understand that 70% of the immune system is in the gut, which is why this process supposedly worked. I'm waiting for the food grade h2o2 to come in the mail, then I'm going for it!</p>
airlion Member
<p>Hi there. I am in a similar boat. I have a bad hip and neck pain. My hands and feet can come and go. I do notice big differences with diet and avoiding wheat and dairy. But the big kickers for me is the fatigue. I almost feel toxic when it hits and I have to sleep. I have had a few bouts of pain as well that has been close to unbearable. But always at night. All blood work is fine except RF. I once, while we were checking my liver enzymes monthly, on purpose did the blood test while having one of these fun down fatigue days. And sure enough RF was even higher then my high. So I feel like that is enough for me to know something is up. My rheumatologist is working with me to have a sleep test and lots of physio. I know for me what is hard is that being in this silent type phase means that's i struggle sometimes and it could look like I am just taking it easy. Now I have always given 150% to everything. I do. And the past few years has been hard to. I have cut way back on work and extra work. I somedays find just getting through the day and caring for my family is all I can do and sometimes feels like too much. I know that part of my problem is that I almost want a clear diagnosis so i have that to show. But in the same breath I don't want this to progress and am doing all I can to be healthy. I have taken this as a sign that after 20 years of working hard and playing hard, my body is screaming at me for gentle repair. Trust yourself. You know if something isn't right. And as my rheumatologist said, some of these meds are just exchanging one pain for another. So if you don't have degeneration, awesome! And avoid meds. But I know that fatigue, the random pain, it is real. Thanks for posting. I am with you and in the same boat.</p>