ke3
1-7-11, 12:49pm
So I was just casually opening my mail yesterday, and I opened the lab results from my last round of blood work. Everything looked pretty good! Then, at the top of page three, there's this giant, in bold letters, RHEUMATOID FACTOR 618 (IU/mL), with the "normal" range listed as "less than 14". :0
To take a leaf out of kib's book, "Holy What the H*ll is wrong with me, Batman!" (Ok, not too Robin-esque, but that was my reaction).
Of course I immediately called the doctor; but we switched to a new health plan on Jan 1, and the first time I could get an appointment was Jan 20th. On the internet I find that there are a number of reasons why a person can test so high; but according to the notes on the lab results, it's "strongly suggestive of rheumatoid arthritis."
Is this why I wake up with my elbows frozen, like my Barbie from the 60's? Why it feels like I'm an ice sculpture who'll break if I bend anything (sometimes, but not all the time)? Why I'm exhausted all the time? It's not fibromyalgia, after all? Or I have both fibromyalgia and RA? Why did the million tests I've had done these last six years not show anything like this? And why am I asking you guys, not my doctor? (Because I'm freaking out, and can't get an appointment until the 20th, as I mentioned above). Does anyone here have RA, or has anyone had such a high lab result?
I spent all yesterday in shock. (Dh said I looked like a deer in the headlights.) And I have to spend all of today preparing to start teaching again on Monday! I have to act normal. Help! Or don't help! I just need to vent. But of course, if anyone has experience with this, I would very much appreciate your thoughts, or extra info you have.
Thanks for listening.
To take a leaf out of kib's book, "Holy What the H*ll is wrong with me, Batman!" (Ok, not too Robin-esque, but that was my reaction).
Of course I immediately called the doctor; but we switched to a new health plan on Jan 1, and the first time I could get an appointment was Jan 20th. On the internet I find that there are a number of reasons why a person can test so high; but according to the notes on the lab results, it's "strongly suggestive of rheumatoid arthritis."
Is this why I wake up with my elbows frozen, like my Barbie from the 60's? Why it feels like I'm an ice sculpture who'll break if I bend anything (sometimes, but not all the time)? Why I'm exhausted all the time? It's not fibromyalgia, after all? Or I have both fibromyalgia and RA? Why did the million tests I've had done these last six years not show anything like this? And why am I asking you guys, not my doctor? (Because I'm freaking out, and can't get an appointment until the 20th, as I mentioned above). Does anyone here have RA, or has anyone had such a high lab result?
I spent all yesterday in shock. (Dh said I looked like a deer in the headlights.) And I have to spend all of today preparing to start teaching again on Monday! I have to act normal. Help! Or don't help! I just need to vent. But of course, if anyone has experience with this, I would very much appreciate your thoughts, or extra info you have.
Thanks for listening.