I'm so upset. Pain started in wrists / swelling / pain. Then went to hands / fingers.

Was on prednisone for 6 months, plauenil, nothings working. My Rheum sent me to an ortho hand specialist yesterday who states I do NOT have RA or even arthritis and that they've been treating me needlessly for the past 6 months.

I have severe carpal tunnell and something called dequervian's tendinitis.

He also states that since the pain /swelling started with teh dequervian's tendinitis that if I would have been properly diagnosed from the beginning, and treated as such (shots of cortisone) the other problems I am having now would not be happening !!

My left hand is so severe now I have NO Feelling what so ever in my thumb, pointer and middle fingers. I have huge ganglion cysts on the tops of my hands and basically am not functioning well.

I have to go for a nerve conduction study on the 24 and go back to see him on the 28, he is positive we will be scheduling surgery at this time.

Could this be right? Could my primary MD and the rheum have been misdiagnosing me and mis-treating me this entire time?

I can understand why there is a difference of opion on this one. I started with the DQ in my left hand and then my bicep tendon in the same arm. I also had the injection that never did any thing for me. I was in a thumb splint for months. But as the months went by it spread to my other hand and arm. Then to both legs. They did not know what was going on because I had a negetive rhuematoid factor. Then went to a specialist and he said that I had RA. I also got carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands. I can't imagine having carpal tunnel syndrone and DQ at the same time. Inflamed tendon in my thumb was the start of my RA. It took over a year to figure out that I had RA. It is hard to tell the differnece between these things sometime because there is no tell test that says for sure you have RA and alot of the symptoms are the same. Hope you can get some pain relief soon.

Did any of your blood work indicate RA? Did you have any other symptoms? Unfortunately some of these things have very similar symptoms and aren't always the easiest to diagnose. If none of your blood work showed any signs of RA and you didn't have any other symptoms, the hand doctor might be on the right track.