Expert: Karen Brawner - 8/14/2004

Question
my mother, in early 50's, has recently experienced many symptoms of severe arthritus.  what makes it unusual is its severity and rapid onset.  although she has previously occasionally experienced mild discomfort and inflammation in joints - ankles and hands mostly - 2 weeks ago she complained of extreme pain in all her joints.  it happened in a matter of a few days and now she can barely move.  she is being tested by doctors in nogales, and they are unsure what she has but they suspect it is viral in nature.  any ideas?

Answer
Dear Asks,   Unfortunately, I don't....  If she has Rheumatoid Arthritis, a simple RF blood test can diagnose this...  However, I would strongly suggest that they also do an ANA blood test and other blood work to check for possible OTHER autoimmune diseases....  I am sure they have already run the common blood work like white blood count, red blood count, platlets, etc, but autoimmune disease blood tests are not commonly done by doctors unless all other blood tests fail to confirm a diagnosis and even then, the doctor MUST be experienced in making an autoimmune disease diagnosis....  There are several autoimmune diseases out there that cause these types of symptoms....

Please go to www.aarda.org     then click on patient information    and then scroll down to search the more than 56 possible types of autoimmune diseases which might help in helping the doctors determine your mother's proper diagnosis...

Thank you,   karen