My doc has diagnosed me with Reiter's Syndrome based on the fact alone that I have had Uveitis and sacroiliitis. However, after much reading I feel that he may be wrong. Reiter's Syndrome is mainly Reactive Arthritis. Which is normally triggered due to bacterial infections such as Sexually transmitted diseases, Urinary Infections and GI infections. However, I have no history of these things. I do have a history of shoulder problems with no known cause except possible arthritis, sacroiliitis, back pain and stiffness, hip pain, siactic nerve, stiffness and pain of the feet, Uveitis and so on. This history seems to contect better with the Ankylosing than with the Reiter's. Also I am HLA-B27 positive which is connected to this group of Spondyloarapathies. My doc is finishing up his residency at my local clinic. Should I voice this concern and the facts that I have found or should I leave it alone since he is the doc. There is a year waiting list for the Rheumatologist. What you are describing sounds more like AS than ReA - but what do I know?, I am just an AS patient. ;-)
Note that HLA-B27 is not diagnostic. AS is diagnosable with X-rays, but there are a lot of false negatives there too.
That said, treatment of ReA is identical (or should be) to that for AS. So a misdiagnosis at this stage shouldn't be too problematic.
ReA treatment:
http://www.spondylitis.org/about/reactiv...
AS treatment:
http://www.spondylitis.org/about/as_trea...
Make that appointment to see the rheumatologist, to get treated properly.
http://www.spondylitis.org/about/main.as...
Good luck with it.
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Addendum
I just realized I answered a few of your other questions here on AS. Hopefully someone else can offer additional insight. Hi. I don't know much about Ankylosing, but I had a classic case of Reiter's about 10-years ago. I thought it might help you with your diagnosis if I explain my experience. It started with a urinary tract infection due I'm sure to the fact that I had just started dating a my new new girl friend at the time. Within days, I had a bout of severe uveitis and heel pain. Within days of these events, I had excrutiating pain in my left ankle with swelling and then excrutiating pain in my right knee also with severe swelling. The joint pain was so severe that I was essentially disabled. Within a week, I had gone from riding 50-miles on my bike per day to needing assistance to get to the bathroom. An orthopeodist made the preliminary diagnosis and I later found out that I am HLA-B27 positive. The Uveitis went away after about a week or two, but I remained barely functional and needed crutches for about two or three weeks. I also became very anemic and week, I imagine from my immune system fighting the imaginary infection. I also had pretty severe spinal pain that was most noticeable in the mornings. This lasted for at least two months, maybe longer. After about 1-month, I barely felt well enough to excersise a little, but I was so scared that if I didn't try in spite of the pain and anemia, my muscles might further atrophy. I was pretty much fully recovered at at full strength again within about 3 to 4-months of the initial onset of symptoms. But it was very scary. I have never had another bout. I consider myself lucky becasue many have reocurring flare ups and some are chronic cases. I;ve been told that if you don't have another bout within two years of your first, the odds are good that you will not have another one. Hope this helps. Good luck. |
