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Expert HERWriter Guide Blogger

Hi Anon - After reading your post I can certainly understand your frustration from experiencing pain for so long, seeing several doctors and still not having a clear diagnosis or treatment prograam.

One reason for this may be that there are more than 100 forms of arthritis. The symptoms can overlap and make it hard to diagnose the exact type of arthritis. What is clear though, is that if you do have a form of arthritis it's really important to get the right treatment to prevent irreversible damage to the joints, bones, and organs.

The process of figuring out whether a person has arthritis, and finding the type of arthritis they have, can be difficult. A single symptom or a single test result is not enough to diagnose arthritis. Symptom patterns and tests are usually used to rule out specific types of arthritis. It can be an arduous process when you want quick answers.

Blood tests can be a helpful diagnostic tool, but when used alone they may not provide information that can lead to a definitive diagnosis. The patient's full clinical picture and medical history has to be evaluated, along with the blood tests, to
develop the correct diagnosis.

Since you're mentioned rheumatoid arthritis twice, I'm going to provide a link that will give you in-depth information about that condition so you can compare that information against your personal experience.

https://www.empowher.com/media/reference/rheumatoid-arthritis#diagnosis

I'm also going to provide information on osteoarthritis which is the breakdown of cartilage in the joints. This is followed by chronic inflammation of the joint lining. Healthy cartilage is a cushion between the bones in a joint. Osteoarthritis usually affects the hands, feet, spine, hips, and knees. People with osteoarthritis usually have joint pain and limited movement of the affected joint.

https://www.empowher.com/condition/osteoarthritis

It sounds like you're not happy with the information from the two rheumatologists you've seen. Do you have a primary care physician? It may be helpful to work with that physician to review the findings from the other physicians and your test results in order to determine the correct diagnosis or to refer you to a different specialist to help you get the correct diagnosis.

Will you let us know what you decide to do, and the outcome?
Take good care,
Pat

January 5, 2010 - 6:22pm

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