Hi
I had my appointment with my specialist nurse today as recently I have felt so much stiffer, achier and exhausted all the time. During the discussion with her I mentioned the words RA and she said "oh no you don't have RA you have Sero-Negative Spondyloarthritis (I think thats how it is spelt I had to write it down!) which is different, even though the sypmtoms are the same as RA and so is the treatment and medication."
This came as a great shock to me as for the last 5 years or so I was under the impression I had RA so now I feel like a fraudster, I have told my family, friends, employers and all of you on here that's what I have!
Would anyone be able to explain to me the difference if the symptoms and treatment are the same as I'm very confused now and the nurse was very vague and basically said it doesn't matter what it's called as we treat your conditon the same way as we treat those with RA.
I'm sure you are all thinking I must have known but RA was mentioned at my 1st appointment with the Consultant back in 2005 and I never thought to question it again as I have all the symptoms and medication for RA and have continued to have regular appointments every 3 or 6 months since then with the Rheumatology Team. I obviously have never asked enough questions before but the appointments are always so rushed but today I had made a list of things to discuss.
Anyway she gave me a steroid injection in my bum to see if that would help take down the inflammation in my feet, wrists and hip and I've got to go back in 3 months to check the results of my blood tests and possibly increase my celebrex from 200mg per day to 400mg if I'm feeling no better.
Any advice would be most appreciated
Deb xx