Question
I recently went to a (great) hand surgeon in regard to . . . (you guessed it) a hand injury. I fell over a year ago and my left hand has never been the same. Unfortunately, I think poor advice exasperated and irritated the situation. I had several MRIs and X Rays and a bone scan and all came up normal (aside from a small synovial cyst). When I went back to the hand surgeon and he said we should have some blood tests done to check for Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, etc., I didn’t think anything of it. I figured they’d show negative results just like every other test I’ve had for the past year. I was shocked when the surgeon told me my blood tested positive for Rheumatoid Arthritis. At the age of 28 I feel pretty healthy. Is it likely that the trauma of the fall I had last year triggered the rhematoid arthritis? I have never had any of the RA symptoms before and I only have the consistent pain in the hand and wrist that I hurt when I fell.
Answer
First, you need to see a rheumatologist to confirm that you have RA. Although patients often report that RA starts after trauma, the formal, controlled studies do not show this.
