Question
About 6 months ago I had pains in both my wrists,about 3 months after that  knees , shoulders and joints started popping. My knees, wrists, neck  and shoulders now all seem to have grinding going on. There has never been any swelling or redness. I can still function allright but cant twist hard with my wrists and am afraid its going to get worse. Nothing really hurts bad but I can tell its not right. I'm 46 years old in good shape , still exercise. Went to rheumtologist and he diagnosed ostearthritis, and says it my joints wearing out. It doesn't seem right that they would all go at same time. My Rheumatoid fact test came back a 6, I also did gonorrhoeae tests (swchab,urine and blood) all negative. Can it be osteo? I'm afraid its something else and if not treated would get worse. I would think it wouldn't hit so many joints at once. Please give opinion.
Thanks

Answer
Terry,

You are right that it is unusual for osteoarthritis to suddenly affect so many joints at once. It is not unheard of but unusual.

With an autoimmune type of arthritis such as Rheumatoid arthritis you would expect the joints to show more symptoms. The effected joints would have pain and inflammation would show up on X-rays.

Joint popping does not necessarily mean arthritis. Joints pop because of synovial fluid moving around in the joint.

The best thing to do is keep an eye on your symptoms. If they begin to get worse see the Rheumatologist again. Especially if the joints get more painful or you notice swelling or redness. Tell them you are not convinced that this is osteoarthritis and want to rule out any other cause for the sudden change in your joints. There are other test that can be run.

I wish you well

Rusty
http://arthritis-symptom.com