[Mosells]

I feel you pain, no pun intended. Turning 80 in a few months, in the last 4 months I’ve had a pulled neck , knee, groin and now back muscle. All occurred while in bed doing nothing. Last week the back pain was so intense I went to ER at the villages regional hospital, where they ran an EKG, cat scan of of my back, blood and pee tests, all test NEGATIVE. What is going on? Have appointment with my doctor next week. I guess this is life after 80. Thanks for letting me vent.

[jj6426]

Thank you so much for this info.

[jj6426]

Interesting. I have just recently started taking a statin for high cholesterol. I will ask my doctor what she thinks.

[jj6426]

Strangely enough I was tested for a gluten allergy but that did not indicate a problem. Thank you though for your reply.

[jj6426]

That's a shame. I had had a shingles shot about 8 years ago--and then got shingles last year. No fun but not the worst case scenario. I hope you're feeling better now.

[jj6426]

Thank you. Actually I was in Maine for two months last year so that is a possibility. I will speak to my doctor about this.

[jj6426]

I've heard about CBD oil and in fact, my daughter just bought some for me. So I will give that a try.

[jj6426]

Was actually tested for this (polymyalgia rheumatica) and although my numbers (from the blood test) were borderline, the doctor was not concerned with that.

[jj6426]

Yes as we age we certainly have more aches and pains. But I think you are right in going to see a doctor about what you're going thru. It was a lot that came on suddenly. I kind of feel that too.

[jj6426]

Yes, I did try prednisone but it didn't help. Thank you for responding.

[jj6426]

Originally Posted by NotGolfer

I have RA, osteo-arthritis as well as fibromyalgia. I used GE post too as he's a retired dr., I believe. He's right about seronegative RA as it won't show up in blood-work. I didn't get my diagnosis for the RA right away...in fact I began the symptoms suddenly when we still lived up north. I went to my pcp (who didn't do labs) that directed me to a neurologist, who I fired (long story there). I eventually just decided I would live with it and it was horrible. That was about a year before we moved here..in 2008 or so. It wasn't til 2011 when an astute dr. in taking my history and asking a plethora of questions sent me for labs. They took 15 vials to rule out various things. It was then I was found to have RA. I can recommend Dr. Catherine Sullivan at the Specialty Clinic as a rheumatologist. I've gone through 5 before finding her and she's very good. You can private message me if you have any other questions.

Thank you. Can you tell me what they took 15 vials of? You had said RA won't show up on a blood test. How did this rheumatoligist discover you had it? I believe that's what I have too.

[NotGolfer]

Originally Posted by jj6426

Thank you. Can you tell me what they took 15 vials of? You had said RA won't show up on a blood test. How did this rheumatoligist discover you had it? I believe that's what I have too.

The dr. was wanting to rule out a whole bunch of things...such as Lyme, Rocky Mt. Fever (that's all I remember). RA "IS" found via blood tests and that's how my diagnosis came to be!!!! They can see your inflammation markers via this. Mine apparently were high. BUT as the dr. said in this thread, you can also be seronegative--where the markers won't show up high but you'll still have the symptons. Only a rheumatologist would be able to answer your questions and NOT a social media site. One other thing the rheumatologist did at my 1st visit was to have x-rays taken of my hands. They can see indications (apparently) from those as well. PLUS it's a baseline for progression later.