Jennifer May, M.D. is a contributing Prairie Doc columnist. She practices rheumatology in Rapid City, South Dakota at Rapid City Medical Center and serves on the Healing Words Foundation Board of Directors, a 501c3 which provides funding for Prairie Doc programs.
Recently I met a new patient who had waited several months for her appointment. At this first meeting, I was quickly able to diagnose Rheumatoid arthritis.
Like others with this disease, her joints were swollen, and she was stiff getting up and moving to the exam table. During our discussion I learned she had felt well until about six months before. There was no good explanation for the onset of he…