Sue - I still haven't found the post but here's the info again:
Although my symptoms started out affecting my axial joints which pointed to possible AS, I didn't have any spine involvement. In addition, the butt pain was my coccyx not my SI joints. I'm B27 negative. These were all pointers away from AS.
I'm seronegative and for many months had no involvement of either my hands or feet so RA was ruled out at first. In fact, the diagnosis requires involvement of either hands or feet at least.
I'm still seronegative but the arrival of stiffness and pain in finger, thumb and wrist joints made a difference to the diagnosis. I'm still seronegative but I do have a positive ANA (common with most inflammatory arthritis). Also, the affected joints are symmetrical throughout - both shoulders, both hips, both knees, both hands etc. Finally, I get episcleritis rather than iritis or uvitis.
Interestingly, I'm not a perfect fit for either of them. Clearly I have inflammatory arthritis and my lab tests show extremely high levels of inflammation that no one can argue with. I'm satisfied that we can rule out AS because of lack of spine or SI involvement. My doc and rheumy seem satisfied that there is enough variation in RA that my non-standard presentation is still adequate for a diagnosis.
Still - that's why I'm interested in comparing with CC.
