Question
 My daughter recently has experienced swelling of her hands and feet for no apparent reason. Her doctor ran blood tests testing for arthritis. They came back as being borderline rheumatoid arthritis, but he says these are unconclusive. Is it possible for the swelling to happen if she has that?  The swelling is also accompanied by white colored welts on top of the fingers and toes that are hard and look like blisters. She says it hurts and throbs.  I appreciate your time.  Maria

Answer
Dear Maria,  I do not know what type of doctor is handling your daughter and her diagnosis, but he/she is not taking this very serious....  If the RF blood work is abnormal (increased above normal) then the following things could be indicated:
1. rheumatoid arthritis
2. Other autoimmune diseases such as SLE (systemic Lupus Erythematosus
3. Chronic viral infection
4. Subacute bacterial endocarditis
5. Tuberculosis
6. Chronic Hepatitis
7. Dermatomyositis
8. Scleroderma (another autoimmune disease)
9. Infectious mononucleosis
10. Leukemia
11. Cirrhosis of the liver
12. Syphilis
13. Renal disease

The fact that you have told me here that she has swelling this swelling could be caused by renal (kidney) problems.. Kidney problems can be caused by CREST syndrome and scleroderma or systemic sclerosis or SLE....  The white colored welts on fingers and toes that are hard and look like blisters and hurt and throb can also be caused by CREST Syndrome, systemic sclerosis and Raynaud's Syndrome...

I "strongly" suggest that this doctor or a Rheumatologist who is trained in diagnosing possible autoimmune diseases start running more blood tests on your daughter...  Below are a couple of web sites about CREST syndrome....


www.emedicine.com/derm/topic88.htm

www.sclero.org/medical/about-sd/types/crest.html

You or she may also want to check the web search engine YAHOO and type in some or all of these search words

Systemic sclerosis
Systemic Lupus Erythematosis
Raynaud's Syndrome
Autoimmune Diseases

Look up each one individually and print off information that may help your doctor help your daughter.....  

Also note that people who do not even have an increase in the RF blood test will have any of these medical problems except for rheumatoid arthritis...  Inorder to have RA, the RF blood test must be positive....

I hope this helps and if you have more questions, just ask.
Thank you,   karen