Blood work tells the whole story. Xray will determine whether you have any erosion damage to your joints. Sometimes lumbar and cervical xrays are done which can show some changes as well. These doctors DO NOT LISTEN. They follow the STANDARD OF CARE which is a prescription pad. None of them bother to tell us to see if Food allergies can be aggrevating our bodies, they dont' suggest any anti-inflammatory supplements. Its Prednisone and RA medication. Why come up with a cure when these drug companies are making a FORTUNE on our disease ! I work for surgeons and am very comfortable talking to doctors. I finally agreed to take 10mg. of Methatrexate and my dr wants me to go up to 15mg then to 20mg. I told him ABSOLUTELY NOT. I'm find on 10mg. so that is where i"m staying until I can go into remission and stop taking drugs.

I also went on a cruise this year and was told don't overdo the the alcohol. More to do with the added risks to your liver. Another issue is photo sensitivity (sensitivity to the sun) pile on the sun cream 😎

I have blood tests every 2-3 months. CRP and ESR are always among the tests. They also check liver function since the RA meds are extremely hard on livers. I was told absolutely NO DRINKING of alcohol. I was the only one on my cruise last January that was a tea-totaler. It was a bit of a drag, but I was always able to navigate on the ship.

My rhuem orders blood tests for CRP and ESR (rhuematoid factors) and CCP, ANA. I have just finished a course of prednisone while waiting for 10mg Methotrexate to kick in. Now im not on the Prednisone i am in severe pain like i was before. The methotrexate does not appear to be helping its been about 3 months. I have not had any scans at all. I did have a physcial test that left me in pain for a week due to him squeezing my joints. Happy times hey

They inflammation in your body should be monitored in the form of the C-Reactive Protein reading from your blood work. Then xrays, etc. can be done periodically to monitor the progress of the disease. The inflammation in your body is the problem though so that is what they are looking at on your tests. I am also sero negative.
My husband has a herniated disc in his back and has a lot of the symptoms you described with the tingling and such. You may have something going on that is impinging on a nerve. Especially if it's down through your fingers. They could see if you have any issues with your neck or back starting with an xray and then if something looks fishy they may order an MRI.