Billye, was it polymyositis?? What you were tested for---the name that escapes you....there is also polymyalgia rheumatica.

Neuropathy can cause what looks like an RA. I have some very deformed joints....they look identical to any RA patient I have cared for....only thing is...I am utterly without ONE inflammatory marker in my body.

There is neurogenic arthropathy. (The joint loses position and becomes more or less like a bag of bones....much more susceptible to fracture.

There is neurogenic myopathy. (Denervation and loss of input to the muscles-they shrink and get abnormal)

There is myopathy due to drugs, inactivity, toxins and heredity.

There is vascultic myopathy...but that should show as 'inflammatory' with higher sed rates and potentially other inflammatory markers.

They can find neuropathy in the tissues of the mouth in burning mouth syndrome.....and disordered biopsies due to that lack of innervation.

Swallowing can become difficult due to lack of innervation of the smooth muscle...same with gastroparesis and constipation...it isn't separate...it is the denervation issue.

Heart muscle can become denervated....altho is the least likely to be affected.

Breaks can occur due to myopathy, as our muscles, tendons, ligaments are not holding our bones in position or moving them as they should be and then pressure on a bone that isn't engineered to take that stress, fractures it. A bone doesnt need to be that misplaced to cause injury to it, fracture, sprain, impingment etc...

Bone can get malnourished due to neuropathy affecting vasculature...

It is very complex...mind boggling.

These new osteoporosis drugs are under the microscope right now too....not to mention if you have a bad esophagus you can't take them....I do, so I can't take them.....not that estrogen is riskless....it isn't. It is Russian Roulette...so is osteoporosis...

I am finding that I could have a string of diagnoses, depending on who I see, however, they are boiling down to 'neurogenic' changes. Where that neuropathy is coming from is a secret known only to the Creator at this point...or some very motivated molecular geneticist.

I hear your frustration.

People have a right to be angry if they are not told the full truth regarding drugs they take. Seems to me that some drugs perceived as 'money makers' due to the sheer number of potential consumers get fast tracked prior to having good data, while other drugs seem to sit on the shelf. It is after all the 'free market' principle they are modeling the health care system on these days.