Hello from England! I hope you can help: about 3 years ago (when I was 41)I was diagnosed with sero-negative SLE, a diagnosis which has since been modified by my rheumatologist to 'non-differentiated rheumtoid disease'. Although I am seronegative for SLE-specific antigens, my Rheumatoid factor level was high on initial diagnosis at 490. Since then it has risen to 530, and this week to 671!!! On reflection, I can recall a strange flu-type illness in 1998 which caused both my wrists to swell painfully, and then my fingers. I didn't see my doctor at the time, but a couple of years later my symptoms were such that I was tested for RA and referred.
I have been on plaquenil since diagnosis, and diclofenac, recently changed to eccoxolac as the stiffness etc was getting worse. I have photosensitivity, a vague butterfly rash (I think; fatigue; painful joints - often symmetrical, but without the fiery-hot swellings I believe are associated with RA. My mother has RA, as do several of her maternal relatives. I have very low serum ferritin levels (6) and have been on high doses of iron for two years. Latterly my Hb has risen to 15, so my GP has stopped Fe supplements, and my serum iron is ok. My anaemia I think dates back 3 years ago to a miscarriage in which I haemorrhaged.
I work full-time as a university lecturer, but receive support from occupational health. I have 3 children, and smoke about 15-20 cigarettes per day - but am planning to stop in the next few days! I had glandualr fever when I was 13.
I guess I want to have a clearer idea of what it is I may have - and what the rising, high RF titers signify, if anything. How does RF affect the body, and what do my RF levels suggest in prognostic terms?
I hope you can clarify things for me!
Many thanks