Your Primary Care Physician
When there is a problem, many people will visit their primary care physician first for diagnosis of the problem. Your primary care physician most likely is an internist. Internists are trained to treat a variety of problems in adults, including arthritis.
How Your Doctor Will Make a Diagnosis of Arthritis
The first visit to your doctor will be to diagnose if the pain you are feeling is from a type of arthritis or from some other disease or injury. If during the evaluation he or she determines you have arthritis, the next step is to find out which type. At this time, there are over 125 known types of arthritis ranging from mild to serious. Your doctor will do the following to answer this question:
- Ask you for your medical history, a listing of your medications, and an explanation of your lifestyle.
- Examine your entire body, including hands and feet.
- Order and evaluate the necessary tests.
Questions You Will Need to Answer
In addition, your doctor will run through a series of questions to determine what type of arthritis you have. It would be helpful for you to have some information already available for your doctor to review. For example, you should tell him or her:
- where you feel the pain
- when it hurts
- how long it has hurt
- if you have seen any swelling or redness
- if anyone else in your family has a type of arthritis.
You may even want to take a photograph of any redness or rashes you have, since it may disappear by the time you actually see your doctor.
Your doctor may also ask you to move the joints that are troubling you so that he or she can assess the range of motion you have. You may also be checked for joint swelling, rashes, muscle weakness and areas of tenderness.
Additional Tests That Help Diagnose Arthritis
After a physical examination, your doctor may order an x-ray to confirm a diagnosis and to find out the severity of the arthritis. An x-ray allows the doctor to see inside your joints to determine if there has been any destruction of cartilage. Blood tests may also be ordered to find if you have rheumatoid arthritis and not another type of arthritis, like osteoarthritis. The exact kind of tests your doctor orders depends on what type of arthritis he or she believes you have.
Since there are so many types of arthritis, it may take several visits to find out which type of arthritis you have. You may also be referred to a rheumatologist for examination. A rheumatologist is an internist who specializes in arthritis.
