My thumb and index finger joints on both hands are inflamed and sore.

My symptoms started with what I thought was the flu - extreme body aches and exhaustion (no vomiting). Although I felt better, I never felt 100%. Two weeks later I woke up on a Saturday morning and even without the lights on could tell that my hands were very swollen and stiff. Only once I got in the shower did I find that my ankles, toes, knees, neck and elbows were also swollen. I went to an urgent care who tested me for "life threatening" problems and was then sent to my primary two days later. My primary doctor ran blood tests that came back fine, yet the inflammation never went down nor did I see improvement in my neck's range of motion. Finally in May I went to a specialist who diagnosed me with RA. I'm currently on Relafen and see the specialist next week to obtain additional blood test results. I was diagnosed one week before my 37th birthday.

My daughter (age 15 ) was diagnosed today with this. Her symptoms were swollen and sore feet and sore and swollen fingers.

Nearly 3 years ago, at the age of 38, my knees suddenly got very swollen and painful so that it was impossible for me to squat down or navigate stairs, etc. I was very active at the time and had just finished up re-landscaping my front yard so I thought I had maybe injured my knees but also being aware of my mom's history with osteoarthritis, I made an appointment with a rheumatologist. When, after examining me, she looked at me and told me I did not have osteoarthritis, but rheumatoid arthritis, I had no idea what the difference was. When I did some research I was surprised because there is no history of RA in my family. Prednisone quickly bought the pain and inflammation under control. I have never tested positive for the RF factor and for the first 2.5 years I had a relatively mild case and did well on Plaquenil and NSAIDs with maybe 2 or 3 flares that required a steroid dose pack. All that changed about six months ago and my disease has now progressed to a more severe state. I have now been on prednisone for about six months, started methotrexate about 4 months ago and since being on all of this has not worked to control the inflammation and joint damage (just within the past few months), I am starting Humira in addition to everything else this week. So, hopefully, that will bring this under control and into remission.