Q: I am a 33 years old female. I was getting pain with swelling in my joints especially the wrists for the last 4-5 years. All my tests including the RA test were negative. I was treated for RA mostly with pain killers. About 2 years back, my ASO titre test was positive and I was put on penicillin (penidura 12 lacs) injections for about 6 months. The test then came negative and the injections were stopped. I then had a throat infection and my ASO test again was positive. Again I took the injections for 1 year when the test was negative again. I now keep on getting pain only in both my wrists. There is no accompanying swelling and the pain is not constant i.e I may get the pain for 2 days then it goes away only to resurface after a week etc. My question is will this pain persist or will it disappear after some time? I am 6 months pregnant and I am on no medication for this pain?

A:The clinical and investigative findings that you have described do not fit with any well defined disease or syndrome. Reactive arthritis due to streptococcal infection does occur very rarely in adults but the clinical features described by you are not typical of that syndrome. Possibly you may need careful re-evaluation by a rheumatologist (physicians who are specialist in arthritis and rheumatism; not an Orthopaedic Surgeon) after the delivery. Any way, during pregnancy it is always advisable not to take medicines other than prescribed by your obstetrician unless some very serious problem arises. And your problem does not seem to be that serious right now.