I am so so scared and I know you cannot diagnose online but any thoughts to get me through next few days would be very helpful. My 21 year old son at college (Tufts Boston) has had weird symptoms for 5 weeks (a bit on and off). First joint pain in foot, wrist, fingers and some knee I think. Then large rash on chest and back. Health clinic thought it was Lyme and he went on antibiotics for a week until he saw an infectious disease specialist. He was tested for Lyme at 2 separate appointments-both negative. The rash changes a bit and receded. I will upload fairly recent picture -becaue now it looks like hives (did not initially). All blood work infectious disease guy did was normal with the exception of elevated inflammation shown in one marker. So Will is going to a Rheumatologist Tuesday. Meanwhile I am thinking Lupus or worse!

His joint pain is controlled pretty much by Ibuprofun and he is not fatigued or otherwise sick. He may have had low grade fever at some point but do not think he has one now (not sure). He says he does not FEEL sick, he is fully functional, going to classes and walking around campus. I think stiffness is worse in morning. Can RA cause rash like this? My head comes up with horrible possibilities but with one exception blood tests normal and he is not feeling sick. Actually it is not the symptoms that scare me so much as they seem not that severe but really the duration-almost 5 weeks-with some receding then recurring.

Any thoughts at all? Otherwise healthy kid.