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Sudden Onset Joint Pain, Continues 1 Year Later

I am a 32 yo female of normal weight with no previous health issues besides normal colds etc. In fact I was in the best shape of my life prior to the below.

In February of 2019 I started having sudden bilateral joint pain in my wrists. Over the next few weeks it quickly progressed to migrating joint pain affecting my hands, knees, elbows and ankles. I also had a week of numbness in lower and upper extremities. This only lasted a short period (the numbness). I was referred to a rheumatologist who ran the normal battery of labs looking for autoimmune disorders and inflammation. All were in normal range. No physical inflammation detected. I had an x-ray and MRI done of my right wrist. No fluid or wear detected to indicate RA (minor arthritis in right thumb). I was evaluated by a neurologist in April with more labs and normal exam.

I tried my best to go with with life with the joint pain persisting over the summer.  Then in October I had dizzy room spinning spell and more numbness. It was then recommended that I have a brain and cervical spine MRI. Normal results with few white lesions which I was told is normal aging and minimal reversal of my cervical lordosis. I also had a normal thoracic spine MRI. To help confirm the brain MRI I had a lumbar puncture with normal results as well. I have been tested multiple times for my Sed Rate, CRP, Rf factor. I've been tested for HIV, Hep B & C, hla-b27, thyroid levels, vitamin b12, b2, b1, b5, b6, vit a, vit e, folate, copper. Normal CBC panel & comprehensive metabolic panel.  I have also been tested for lyme disease. I've been tested for b. Henselae, babesia microti. The only test that was positive was parvovirus. I did not test positive for the active infection, only past infection. There are other labs ran but these are bulk of them. I have been evaluated for MS by three neurologists including a specialist in the field who all say it very unlikely. One neurologist thinks I'm suffering chronic effects from parovirous.

To sum up I have been through a ton of testing and still have no answers a year later. My pain is not worse in the morning. I have had a lot of what I describe as "brain fog" and was having headaches. The headaches improved when my neck pain started to feel better.  The unknown of what's wrong with me is almost as bad as the symptoms. Its causing emotional damage as much as physical damage. I am considering starting a family and am fearful going into it without a diagnosis so I know what I am dealing with.  Any input would be great.
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Avatar universal
Have you found any solutions for your health issues. ?

I’ve been having almost the exact same symptoms for 2 years.
Helpful - 1
1 Comments
I was diagnosed 15 years ago with a chronic parvovirus and Epstein-Barr virus coinfection that has plagued me ever since.
I never had any arthritis in my hands although I do have degenerative disc disease and spinal stenosis in my neck and two compressed discs in my lower back.
Everything else was pretty normal until about four months ago. I woke up one morning with severe stiffness and excruciating pain in my hands and wrists.
I thought maybe I had worked too hard doing something and it would pass.

It’s been about six months now and it’s just getting worse every day. I don’t understand what happened. I can’t make a fist I can’t even move my fingers without excruciating pain and stiffness.

It’s like I developed the arthritis of 100-year-old person literally overnight.

I see that your neurologist mentioned chronic affects from parvovirus and it struck a chord with me because I was diagnosed with a chronic parvovirus infection along with Epstein bar type infection that caused recurring 105° fevers, sore throat pain, joint pain etc.
For well over a year.

I was waitressing back in 2005 and some kid coughed in my face and got me terribly sick.
The 105° fever’s, sore throat pain etc. kept coming back every month with my menstrual cycle for over a year.
Not good when you have to wagers 12 hours a day and you’re paying for your health insurance out-of-pocket.

The doctors told me they never saw anyone like me and they first told me they thought I had leukemia because my white blood cell count was 18 on a scale of 1

to 10. I had to stop waitressing and take an office job. I lost my job to no fault of my own and now I’m working at Costco Food Court.

Needless to say it’s slave labor at best.

Maybe it’s because I’m Working too hard again?
I’m not sure. I’m 52 years old , very petite, and in really good shape for my age (except for degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, a chronic parvovirus and Epstein bar type infection that I have to manage constantly and now this arthritis in my hands.)

I’m thinking it might be a result of my parvovirus as well.

I had Covid in 2020 and I was sick for a very long time. March 20 20 I got sick and I really wasn’t better until about a year later when all of this arthritis Started.
I have to think it had something to do with Covid aggravating my parvo infection.
Costco makes us wait six months for health insurance and I’m only four months in.
It’s very hard to do my job because of this pain. My fingers are actually in so much pain that they go numb and I drop things.
I’ve asked to transfer to a different department but they won’t let me because they can’t find anyone to work in the food court. They hire people but no one stays because it’s truly a very stressful and very laborious job.

The work is very difficult but then you have to spend three hours cleaning up every night and scrubbing floors and scrubbing everything down in the kitchen taking apart machines , and pushing big huge rolling containers of trash back to the back of the building to the trash compactor.
This isn’t a normal job and it hurts my hands, Neck and back terribly.
The pain I’m in is just so bad I can’t stand it but I have to wait two more months to get health insurance to try to find out what’s going on. If you find out anything let us know.
Avatar universal
I'm hoping you've found an answer to your problem by now but if not...Have you had a colonoscopy?  I was having severe migratory joint pain for months and months, with a battery of tests, but no answers. It was completely excruciating & debilitating. Finally, a rheumatoligist suggested a colonoscopy, and we found that I had ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. "Enteropathic arthritis" can sometimes go along with Crohn's disease,   creating such migratory pain, with a small percentage of IBD diagnoses.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Have you found any relief from your health issues?

I have been having almost the exact same symptoms for the past 2 years.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
No. Only bedrest .
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