I've been having pain in my hands on and off, my ankles were 3 years ago which I thought to be a weight issue, I got the weight off, got pregnant (which often puts things into remission such as RA). I'm a new mom again now and having the following -
Left hand is alarming this morning:
-feeling of puffiness when I try to make a fist, but no visible puffiness specific to my ring and middle finger knuckles (lasted about an hour)
-pain around knuckles of ring and middle fingers, radiating top to wrist and bottom to center palm into the wrist (still going on in a lessening degree)
-stiff inbetween the fingers
-radiating sharp pain in my pinky
-feels like pulled muscles with an achy soreness with or out movement (my new normal lately)
-can't rub the pain away, it's deep inside
Right hand:
-minor stiffness
-pain in the wrist radiating down to same area on right hand (just was not as dramatically painful as the left)
-no puffy feeling in the fingers

I often wake up with 1 or both hands numb and tingling. It does not seem to matter how I sleep I end up in a position that cuts off circulation.

Now what is so eye poppingly strange is with my pregnancy I started having symptoms of underactive thyroid, really that started after my 3rd birth in 2004 and that is when the joint pain starte too. Now I've just read a symptom list of RA and it has similar symptoms of fatigue, weight gain, etc. This is so not good.

I wrote this stuff down on my patient history, but the Endo didn't seem to have read it. Maybe he'll read it when he gets my labs back.

I'm anemic with a low thyroid factor index test. So, the endo is going on that with more thyroid test including antibodies. And a Cushings test. BUT man, I'm freaked reading RA symptoms and knowing my own.

I always thought my eye sight would give out and prevent me from doing needle work, now I am thinking arthritis. I'm 32 for crying out loud.

I play the viola which contourts the left hand a bit, I haven't played in a while. Sometimes I'll just be doing house work and move something wrong and my left hand with feel sort of like a charley horse. It's happened a handful of times in the last 3 months.

Sound like RA? I'm really concerned. I'd rather be Celiac than RA or MS as far as autoimmune disorders go. I often felt that I would probably end up with MS just b/c I was so overly vaxed as a child living overseas, makes me wonder if MS will increase amoung the military population and then the general poplulation of kids born after 2002 and fully vaxed.