Recently diagnosed
I'm 23 years old and was recently diagnosed with RA. It all started one morning when I woke up and my pinky was inflamed and hard to bend,I thought it was strange but didn't pay too much attention to it, thinking it would just go away. Couple days went by and my pinky was still the same, I asked my brother in law what this might be since he's a nurse, he told me it might be broken just wear a splint on it there's nothing that can really be done. I wore the splint on and off for a couple weeks when I started to notice my middle finger joint on the same hand start to do the same thing. I now knew something was going on, so I did my research and diagnosed myself to have RA (turns out I was right) I saw my nurse practitioner told him about my issues and he told me to splint my fingers that were bothering me, he pretty much said he didn't think I had RA. 2 weeks went by, the pain was getting worse and now my other finger joints started bothering me. On top of all this I have plantars fasciitis which I know some of my feet pain is caused from the arthritis. Long story short I took all the blood tests that needed to be done, everything was normal besides the RA factor test came back positive, I was told that it didn't mean I actually had RA, I also had an X-ray done of my right hand, of course everything came back normal. I was so exhausted from going to the doctor so many times and not getting any answers. Mornings are terrible for me I can't walk, and if I do it's very slowly and I have to hold on to anything I can, my fingers are so inflamed/red/stiff it hurts to do anything. I take an ibuprofen to help with that. I finally was able to see a rheumatologist and had more tests/X-rays done. Once again everything looked normal. The doctor told me that it is a clinical diagnosis and I have all the symptoms of early signs of RA. I sat there and cried, I felt so embarrassed. I never thought I would get arthritis at the age of 23. She prescribed me hydroxychloroquine. One side effect of the drug is problems with your eyes so they recommend getting your eyes checked before starting it and then check up every 6 months to a year after. I haven't been able to schedule an eye appointment so I haven't taken them yet. Instead, I heard of an herbal supplement called Curamin and I've been taking that for a couple of weeks now. I don't see any difference in my pain. I don't know what's going to happen next but this RA is really starting to take over my life. Help anyone? :(
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