Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment

When diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis, there isn’t any one test that will give a definitive answer. When you go to the doctor the best way to diagnose RA comes in three steps. The first step is in the doctor getting a detailed and accurate medical history. Some questions may be: Do you have stiffness in the morning? Do you have joint pain in many joints? When is the pain most severe? In order to answer this as clearly as possible it is important to be aware of your symptoms, note the time of day and how often the pain occurs. Sometimes RA is misdiagnosed because patients aren’t able to describe to the doctor the symptoms and pain that they feel. Also take note if you have pain on both sides of your body or just one.

The second step to help diagnose RA is getting a physical exam done by your doctor. Your doctor will look close at your joints to determine inflammation or damage. The doctor would also look to pinpoint which joint is sore and to see if there has been any loss of motion. The third step to diagnosing RA is the tests. Since there isn’t any specific test that will diagnose RA your doctor may order a few blood tests or X-rays.

A couple possible blood tests include the Complete Blood Count (CBC) and the Erythrocyte Sedimentary Rate (ESR or sed rate). The CBC measures your three types of blood cells: white blood cells which fight infection, red blood cells that carry oxygen, and the platelets that help blood clot. A low red blood cell count is common among people with RA; this is also a sign of anemia which leads to feeling fatigued. Your platelet count would be elevated if you have inflammation in your body. The ESR test measures the rate at which your blood cells fall to the bottom of a test tube. If you have a high sedimentary rate, it means you have inflammation in your body, the higher the rate the worse the RA. If your sedimentary rate is high your doctor would have it checked regularly. If these tests come back within normal range and you are still having symptoms your doctor could order X-rays.

X-rays show swelling of soft tissue and loss of bone density around the joint, which is what causes inflammation. X-rays can be done soon after diagnosis and used later on to compare to see how treatment is going. An MRI could also be done and could detect early inflammation before it is visible on an X-ray. Since it will take more than one test to diagnose RA, it is imperative that you give your doctor as much detail about your symptoms as possible.