Kat wrote:

Some drugs will cause TMJ.

Can you explain that contradiction, please?   OA  *** IS ***
arthritis.

You haven't mentioned visiting a rheumatologist (RD or rheumy) for
your OA.  An RD is a specialist in that field of medicine.  This is
the
ideal place to obtain a bone scan.

... URA Redneck if you have orange road cones in you living room.

Kat, I don't have anything to offer except to say you need to find another
gp.  The excuse that you are too young just doesn't wash.
Gwen

first off, ((((((((((((kat)))))))))))))) that sounds painful.  secondly,
back in 1971, i knew a 12 year-old boy who had osteoporosis.  need i say
your gp sounds a wee bit uninformed?---grrrrr . . .   bone loss is nothing
to pooh-pooh.  don't just ask her, tell your gp you want a dexa bone scan.
insist upon it.  she works for you, is your employee, not the other way
around.  and she doesn't work for your medical insurance company either.

as for fibromyalgia, fibro is one of the many forms of arthritis (there are
some 160+ types of arthritis).  but what exact blood tests did she have done
on you?  you can ask many here, how many blood tests they've had done, over
and over and over again before a solid diagnosis of RA was determined.

you definitely have something going on, so don't let your doctors drop the
ball and let you and your possibly serious situation fall through the
cracks.  if you aren't getting what you need from your doctors, fire them
and find somebody else.

kate

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking on this board for a while.  I've got a loooong story
to tell, but I'm not sure you guys
will be up for it.  Here's the short version.  I've been told I have
fibromyalgia, even though I don't have all the classic symptoms.  Over
the past 10plus years, I've been slowly losing bone in my jaw.  I guess
my dentist never caught it.  My gums bled on occasion, but I never had
any deep pockets. I eventually developed an open  bite and TMJ problem.
The TMJ dentist thinks the nightguard I was wearing caused the open
bite and possibly, TMJ too.   I can only bite down on my back molars.
A few dentists think it's my bite that's causing the bone loss. The
orthodontist I'm seeing is not convinced, but said I could try braces
to at least make my bite more comfortable.  Anyway, here I sit with
braces in mouth hoping and praying the bone loss doesn't get worse.
I am posting to this group, because I also have joint pain.  I'm just
wondering if there could be a systemic cause to the bone loss. I've
already had blood tests to rule out thyroid condition, arthritis, and
even mercury poisoning. I have OA in my knees and my TMJs are starting
to show wear also. My gp refuses to give me a bone scan.  She thinks
I'm too young (40) to have Osteoporosis, but I'm not sure what else it
could be.

I would post in the sci.med.dentistry group, but some of the people who
post there seem a little...dare I say..nutty?

Kat

Most everyone here has already answered your question...Find a new
doctor...I would find a new PC and Rhuematologist. If you have bone loss in
your gums I cannot understand why  anyone did not give you a bone density
test. I was only about 46 when I had mine...
And...Like some said here..You can have negative test and still have
RA...But the biggest symptom(s) of FM: It mimicks all the other diseases and
you get negative results...Your symptoms could diagnose a whole list of
diseases...A good Rheumatologist will give you a bone density test as part
of your work up....

I hope that you find some answers that you are looking for. And if you do
have FM...I hope that you find a doctor that is not reading from a book
written in the 1900's...
Cindy

I have RA with the identical dental problem you describe. If your doc
won't fully evaluate the jaw ask your dentist. Your doc's sound
hopeless, find new ones, go back to the rheumy somethingmore than fibro
is going on. Fibro doesn't damage joints. Kate