Chronic back, body and joint pain and stiffness...

[jkaar04]

I am 27, and I feel much too young to feel this darn old. My ordeal began in about November 2009 (almost 9 months now!) It all started out of the blue, I woke up one day with joint pain EVERYWHERE! Within a couple days after many hot baths, heating blankets and ibuprofen, I saw my family doctor. This was when that swine flu was going around so I was concerned I was coming down sick as the pain felt much like those pesky body aches you get when you have a cold or the flu, but worse. I had a bunch of bloodwork which all came back normal. They checked for lupus, my rheumatoid factor, several organ function tests, a complete blood count and a metabolic panel. They started me with Vicodin but it started to give me headaches so I got switched to darvocet which didn't work at all. Finally vicoprofen 7.5 w/ 200 mg IB (every 6 hours) worked without headaches and sometimes take an extra ibuprofen or 2 with it. I was then referred to a rheumatologist who ran more tests. He re ran testing for lupus, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, human parboil virus, and a few others but still nothing out of the ordinary. His diagnosis was mild polyarthritis because he had put me on a 5 day prednisone tapered treatment while we waited for my results to see if I reacted positively and I did (or maybe I coincidently had my few good days during that time?). He gave me a gluteal cortisone injection and prescribed plaquenil. He advised the plaquenil would take a month or 2 to take full effect but the cortisone injection should help during that time. The injection didn't help and the plaquenil never helped either. My rheumatologist gave in and put me on 5 mg oxycodone every 8 hours, but I only got relief for about 3 hours. He eventually referred me to pain management and I was able to be put back on vicoprofen 7.5/200mg every 6 hours. My level of pain from November 09' to now has increased quite a bit and I haven't had a normal pain free day in months. I wake up stiff and hurting everywhere, especially in my feet, back and shoulders. The rails on my stairs get full use till my pain meds take effect and can't do anything without pain meds. I have 2 kids and I am a student and I don't completely buy this polyarthritis diagnosis. I tried not taking pain meds but to no avail.  My back, neck and shoulders tense up and feels like sharp stabbing and burning pain along with the widespread joint pain and stiffness. Any ideas? I'm wondering if my back is causing all of this since that's the most painful at this point. I just want my life back.

[geminigirl1963]

I also was just going to mention fibromyalgia - unfortunately there is no particular test for this - it's more a "diagnosis" of exemption.  However, the pain that you're dscribing sounds a lot like fibro - I've suffered with it for over 10 years now.

I also agree with having them keep checking your bloodwork - I've also been diagnosed with lupus and the test for that quite often comes back negative several times before it finally shows up in the labs.

[TrudieC]

The rheumatologist needs to keep testing as many of these things don't always show up in your bloodwork for a while.  Ask them to rule out fiboromyalgia too.

[jkaar04]

Thanks for the info. I have a follow up with my rheumatologist this week or next week. I will bring these points up and see what happens and then determine whether I need to go back to my primary doc for a new referral. I will keep everyone updated. I would love to find vtreatment/maintenance that doesn't involve pain killers, but unfortunately that's my only option so far until we try something new.

[carolanivey]

The rheumatologist only tried placquenil and prednisone, then gave up? Find another rheumatologist! There are many more medications to try and placquenil is just one of the one they usually try first. You don't necessarily have to rely on codiene-based drugs to get by.

RA can strike at any age - I got it at age 5 - and is often sero-negative (nothing unusual shows up in blood work, including negative Rh factor).

Pain in one area causes you to unconsciously tense up, walk differently, stand, sit, lie down differently, which can lead to pain elsewhere. It's like the chicken and the egg.

Seriously, keep looking until you find a rheumie who won't give up so easily. Good luck!