Diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Diagnosing Rheumatoid Arthritis is not an easy task; the first step if you suspect you may have Rheumatoid Arthritis is to talk to your doctor. Once you discuss your symptoms with your doctor they will document your symptoms then examine your joints for any signs of inflammation, they may also order a series of blood test and x-rays.

Depending on the results from the exam, tests, and symptom patterns, it may take the doctor a number visits to give a firm diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis. An exact diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis can also depend on the way the inflammation of the joints is spread throughout the body, in most cases the joints in the hands, feet, knees, and wrists are inflamed on both sides of the body, this is one of the easiest ways for doctors to make a diagnosis, when only a couple of the joints become inflamed it makes diagnosing Rheumatoid Arthritis harder, leading the doctor to order further tests to rule out other possible aggravations such as gout.

Blood tests can be done to help diagnose Rheumatoid Arthritis they test for the Rheumatoid Factor, the Citrulline Antibody, and the Antinuclear Antibody (ANA), the blood tests can also check for how fast the red blood cells settle to the bottom of the test tube the faster it settles the more severe the flare-up is at the time. While blood tests do offer a range of methods to diagnose Rheumatoid Arthritis, they are not always reliable, since deviation in levels can also be  the product of other inflammatory problems.