I have been experiencing intermittent pain and swelling in my hands, wrists, ankles and toes. Currently, the swelling and pain is better, but my wrists are stiff and sore. Is this just age-related pain and discomfort? I feel like I m too young (43) to have this type of pain!
First, you are not too young. The peak of rheumatoid arthritis starting is younger than 40. Then, there are two large groups of arthritis, osteoarthritis and inflammatory arthritis. Osteoarthritis is wear and tear. As such it tends to be on the Bing joints first, and it certainly is not even on both sides. Rheumatoid is an inflammatory disease. It occurs mostly in the small joins of fingers and toes. It is generally the same amount on both sides but tends to skip large joints.