Inflammatory Arthritis

My Rheumatologist diagnosed me with inflammatory Arthritis due to the Primary Sjogrens Syndrome I have. When I research this, all I get is results for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis. Is this a separate thing or is it really just the beginning stages of Rheumatoid or Psoriatic Arthritis? Anybody know?

Hi, my name is MissJamieLee. I’m new to The Mighty and look forward to sharing my story.

#MightyTogether #Migraine #inflammatoryarthritis#endometriosis#chronicpain#kidneydisease#surgicalmenopause

At the age of 44, I have lived the life of a much older person. My story began at age 18, when you begin your adult life...in my case, my IBD life. Some of you may have similar experiences and this may be a safe space to share.

A diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis in 1996, caused a cycle of flare and remission for four years. During that time I finished high school, completed my college program, worked full time, moved into my own place for the first time, met my future husband, and attempted to live life without my diagnosis. All that changed in 2000, my health deteriorated and a total colectomy and pouch were created over the course of 3 surgeries and 4 admissions. Doctors back then were hopeful that I would be able to have surgery to reverse the pouch and function almost "normally". My body rejected this idea and I went through about 6 more surgeries to repair fistulas. Ultimately leading to a life of a pouch for the next 18 years. Those years were somewhat uneventful, a few more surgeries, but I was mostly by definition, "healthy" as the colon was completely removed.

Made some life changes that were healthy, such as divorce, moved to a different city, and settled on another surgery (the BCIR in 2018). Most of the people living with IBD have not had this surgery and so I become a bit of a unicorn to anyone working with me to get an X-ray, MRI, and CT scan. It's an explanation that only leads to more questions. I hear, "So you have an ostomy?" and "Do you have a bag?" and "How do you go to the bathroom?" and "Why do you need those supplies?" After the surgery, I developed pouchitis and changed my eating habits. This cleared the reoccurring inflammation after a couple months but didn't help with the next blow to my life. My dad committed suicide and that threw my body into a trauma wreck. I developed another diagnosis, Inflammatory Arthritis that was severe. Being in full body pain for about 3 months until I could find the right medication to provide some relief, Humira.

Now I am working with two diagnoses that cause inflammation. In addition, I was diagnosis with anemia and depression. Over the next 3 years I was in pain due to a body that was attacking itself. I developed a belly abscess in January 2020 and admitted for 3 days. In the surgery follow up appts. I was pushed and poked and developed abdominal pain that wouldn't go away that was severe. This pain carried with me until September 2021 when a new health team diagnosed me with Crohn's. Are you keeping count, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's, Depression, Arthritis, and Anemia. In order to treatment the Crohn's I had to stop Humira, start Remicade and prednisone. I have finished my loading dose of Remicade and am now being switched to Inflectra (insurance forcing the change). I am taking Methotrexate via injection due to the pills causing nausea and was able to stop the Prednisone.

At present, my belly is uncomfortable most days, on a prednisone taper, and face swelling.

Sometimes I find it hard to tell whether I'm getting a migraine or a headache. I get headaches related to my inflammatory arthritis sometimes and so far the only difference I can spot between migraines and headaches is the light and sound sensitivity with migraines. That can take a little while to kick in though as the migraine ramps up. Now, I take zolmytriptan for migraines and it works best if taken as early as possible, but doesn't work if taken too often. This puts me in a tricky spot sometimes as to whether to take it or not. Is it a migraine starting or just a headache? 🤷‍♀️ So I'm wondering, what symptoms do you get in the early stages of a migraine?

Has anyone found something that helps with the chronic fatigue? I have fibro and inflammatory arthritis and I’m just exhausted all the time. I could sleep for a month straight and still be tired.
#Fibromyalgia

I was just diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis (leaning toward seronegative rheumatoid arthritis but the doctor wasn't sure) after five years of all sorts of tests coming back normal. (I am also diagnosed with fibromyalgia but always suspected there was something else going on.) Aside from my symptoms and family history of RA (my dad has it), my doctor seemed to also rely heavily on the results of the Vectra test, which showed moderate disease progression. After doing research I'd been under the impression that the Vectra test is not supposed to be used for diagnosis, just if you already have confirmed RA. But I'm not a doctor, and this rheumatologist came highly recommended.

I guess I'm just still processing this diagnosis and wondering if anyone else out there has been diagnosed with any sort of inflammatory arthritis in a similar way, with normal bloodwork and imaging but a positive Vectra, or just on symptoms and family history. I don't have swelling at all and didn't have any visible damage in an ultrasound of my hands last year.

It's weird because I've suspected all along that I had an autoimmune disease, and as much as I don't want to have one, I feel sort of like I've been let into this exclusive club where I now get to try medications to manage my illness. But I also can't shake the doubts and the worry that maybe I don't have this at all. It's hard to balance my cautious optimism that maybe things are starting to work out toward a real treatment plan, with my doubts and fears that I'm headed down the wrong path. #InflammatoryArthritis #RheumatoidArthritis