Fail sauce

Hi, I'm Erica, I'm 28 years old and I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints, tissue around the joints as well as the organs. Fun!
The last month or so I've been dealing with some chest pain. I was diagnosed with Costochondritis, which is inflammation of the chest wall. I was put on prednisone and a muscle relaxer and after a week, I was still having some issues. I called and was sent for blood work, an echocardiogram and a chest x-ray.

I got a call a few days ago, saying that the blood work came back normal and everything was fine. I was happy to hear that, but also slightly frustrated because I wanted to know what was wrong with me.

Well, apparently the nurse jumped the gun because there were still results that were pending.

Today I went in for a follow-up appointment to re-do a test that came back abnormal last November, and while there, I was told that that I had tested positive for Rheumatoid Arthritis. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed, but it does explain a lot. I've been having joint pain in my knees and elbows from time to time, but I've always just brushed it off because of past injuries that were flaring up every once in a while. Add on top of that low-grade fevers that I would have from time to time for no real reason.

It's just frustrating, because I want to be healthy, and to have just one thing added onto another.. I just really hope the test I was in for today comes back normal, because I honestly don't think I can deal with anything else.

But the good news about this is at least I have an answer of what's causing this and now I can start testing to further figure out the severity and then get on a treatment plan to prevent it from getting out of control. Cause fuck if I'm going to let this rule my life.