Numerous pains :-(

Hello. I'm a 26 yr old girl, who's at her wits end with the pain. Hopefully someone can realte to my symptoms and be able to help me.
I've been suffering with dry eyes for sometime now since i was 16, it got worse as i got older. I paid to see and optamologist and he said my eyes weren't dry as he did a strip test and the paper was extremely wet, but it could be caused by lack of oil/mucin, which are the other components that make up the tears. So i'm using drops to ease them.
Also for the last 6 months i have been suffering with pain in my hands and feet. In the mornings i feel alittle stiff, but throughout the day i get exteme pain in them, they dont swell but my veins pop to the surface, sometimes feels as though i'm contsantly strining them. Recently i was in so much pain with my foot they gave me a scan, which showed i had fractured it, but i dont recall hurtig myself, it was really bizzare!  My joints are constantly clicking! I have been to see a rheumatologist (sorry if spelling is wrong) and they did blood test which showed the the rheumatoid factor was above normal, but he said this can be normal in most people from time to time, and because there was no swelling he ruled it out for the time being.
Sorry i've gone on abit, i just wanted to say as much as i can so that you can understand what i'm going through and hopefully can help me. I really am getting so depressed, i think if i knew what i was dealing with i would feel so much better with.

Thanks for reading :-)
Take care

[Encephalomalcia]

It could be arthritis.  I have just begun getting Rheumatoid Arthritis and I have started getting knobs on my finger joints and fingers getting alittle bent.  That is a sign of Rheumatoid Arthritis or Lupus.  Have you tried anti-inflammatory medication such as Alieve, which is over-the-counter?  If you try the anti-inflammatory and it gets better then you know it's your joints.  I take Alieve once in awhile and it helps a lot. People can get arthritis from having an overactive immune system.  To bring the immune system down a bit, I use an anti-histamine once in awhile.  You don't want to use them everyday, because it will bring the immune system down too far and you will get sick with cold or flu or other virus.  I found Motrin makes me depressed, so I try to avoid it for myself.  Dry eyes can cause cataracts, so be careful your eyes don't dry out too much.  I have dry eyes too and am at the point where I can no longer wear contact lenses. When the pressure outside goes up, the joints will hurt more.  The popping you are hearing could be coming from bones out of joint.  A Chiropractor can help with this.  The Chiropractor has helped me tremendously.  When I went to him my ribs were out of joint, my back, my fingers, my wrists, my neck, and my jaw.  I had neck pain for years before going to him and found out that I have one of the best necks as far as curvator that he has seen in 10 years of practice.  My neck hardly ever bothers me now.  I hope you get some relief.  It's hard to be in pain everyday.  I have been since I was 7 and now am 44 due to scheuermanns disease (single curve spine).  Take care.  

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hi,

It could be rheumatoid arthritis but usually in this joint disease there’s a marked stiffness in the small joints of the hands in the morning which tends to go away as the day progresses. The joint pains occur and they also tend to decrease as you keep on working during the day. Your rheumatologist is absolutely right in mentioning that Rheumatoid factor can be raised in persons who are absolutely normal. A simple and better test is get an ESR and if it is raised and continues to be raised, it can suggest rheumatoid arthritis (provided your symptoms of the hands continue) as it ESR in inflammatory marker and rheumatoid arthritis being an inflammatory disease.

I can’t think of any other possibility.

I hope that helps. Please do keep me posted.

Kind Regards.

[merrilinda]

Two things come to mind when you mentioned your eyes....one is Sjogren's Syndrome and the other is a form of vasculitis.

Sjogren's Syndrome is an autoimmune disorder that causes dryness in your mucus membranes (like your mouth and eyes).  It also causes arthritis-type symptoms.

And some forms of Vasculitis or Arteritis (not "arthritis", but ARTeritis, inflammation of your arteries)  can cause a gritty feeling and pain in the outer corners of your eyes when those small arteries in your face/temple become inflamed.  I have some symptoms of arteritis including the horrible eye irritation, tender areas around my eyes and temples, but all my tests come back negative.  But it's something to think about if your eyes feel dry and irritated.  In the case of vessel inflammation they may "feel" dry but aren't actually dry.

Hope you feel better and find an answer! :)