Question
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Followup To
Question -
My family doctor recently diagnosed me as having some type of "garden variety" arthritis.  I am 35 and nothing showed up in my bloodwork for rhuematoid or lupus, just slightly elevated c-reactive protein.  Also slightly high cholesterol and slightly low on some thyroid test. Bextra wasn't helping me, but now Voltaren is helping a lot. My question is, do you think I should start seeing a rheumatologist? The doctor didn't tell me to, but he didn't say much of anything.
Answer -
Dear Grace,  If your Rheumatoid Factor blood work (RF) came back normal and your tests for Lupus (ana blood work etc) all came back normal, I do not see you having to see a Rheumatologist at this point....

However, I would see a Endocrinologist since you stated that some of the thyroid tests were low....  Since I do not know which ones they were, I can't give you specific information on whether they are causing your "garden variety" arthritis...  I can't even say if your doctor should be treating you for arthritis, unless he is treating you for Osteoarthritis, since this type of arthritis does not show up in blood work, only MRI scans....

You didn't tell me what your symptoms are and you didn't tell me if you are getting treatment for your high cholesterol, but I can tell you that THYROID PROBLEMS can and will cause high cholesterol...

If you can give me more information on your thyroid blood work (lab results on each test done and normal ranges since all labs are different), and your SYMPTOMS, maybe I can help you more....

Thank you,   karen
 
Karen, thank you for your response.
  My symptoms that finally sent me to the doctor were a tight, squeezing pain, and sometimes partial numbness/tingling in my forearms back in April. Usually these symptoms were accompanied by a fatigue similar to the flu, lightheadedness, sometimes dizziness, and at first even some light chest pains.   I was worried about my heart, so I went to the doctor, but my heart is apparently fine. I have also had joint pain in my lower body and morning stiffness & general "feeling bad" in the mornings for over a year.  It is weird, esp. the last several months, bc every 3 or 4 weeks I have a good day and I actually feel well and remember what it feels like to be well. I go all day w/o napping, still doing chores at night...and lots to catch up on too.  Usually, I feel worse if I lay down and then fall asleep, but sometimes I just have to.  One thing I have found is that I have to take my Claritin twice a day. It's like this is related to my allergies or my allergies just add to everything.  I've had sinus problems and allergies since I was 9 or 10, but didn't get help for them until I was 20.  I usually can't get enough air through my nose, so a little fatigue is nothing new to me and not a red flag by itself.
  Now about the bloodwork:   The thyroid test says TSH w/reflex to FT4 and it came in at 0.35 which is ok for a 1st trimester pregnancy, but I'm not pregnant. The lab says it should be between 0.40 and 5.50 MIU/L units.  I have done some reading on thyroid tests and found that this low score would indicate a possible over-active thyroid even though my symptoms are more similar to an under-active thyroid.  The other possibility would be that my pituitary isn't actually telling my thyroid "hey, slow down!" but that the pituitary isn't working right. My cholesterol is being treated with diet for now since it isn't extremely high and since I didn't have a fasting test.  I supposed to have it checked again in about a month from now.  
 I have also been reading about Wegener's since some of my symptoms seem to indicate restricted bloodflow.  I first saw that on an arthritis website. Thanks so much for any feedback you can give me.  

Answer
Dear Grace,   I still think that it is in your best interest to make sure what type of thyroid problem you are having SINCE your TSH w/relex to Free T4 is LOW....  These are not enough blood tests to make a proper diagnosis and an Endocrinologist will run the other blood tests and also run tests for pituitary  problems....

I would also suggest that you see an Autoimmune Disease doctor which is normally a Rheumatologist, however, you need a Rheumatologist who is SPECIALIZED in autoimmune disease since most rheumatologist don't like treating or testing for autoimmune disease because of the length of time that it takes to diagnose these types of disease and rheumatologists just don't like "wasting their time" when something is hard to diagnose....

Thank you,   karen