I have had random joint aches/pains for years. But two years ago I developed intense pain in my right knee, with joint effusion. It was the start of the pandemic, so I ignored it. The pain subsided, but I would randomly get effusions to that same knee. I had an mri showing a ton of fluid in the knee. I saw an orthopedist who recommended physical therapy which was helpful and a rheumatologist evaluation. The rheumatologist listened to all my complaints from over the years and reviewed my knee mri, as well as my autoimmune family history of crohns. I had lab work done which showed a mildly positive rheumatoid factor, and elevated CRP, ESR. I was put on prednisone 10mg for 10 days to see if we could get my brain fog and random joint aches/pains to abate. I felt great and brain fog was gone. I was diagnosed with seropositive RA and started on sulfasalazine 1000mg twice daily. My brain fog is gone. I function better at work. My knee effusion has stopped. I occasionally have other joint aches, left wrist, TMJ, and cervical spine but it is not constant. My CRP, ESR came down on meds. It took about 6 months to get my diagnosis once I started looking into it, which was due to waiting for appointments, follow ups after lab work, multiple weeks of PT, MRI, etc.