arthritis in right thumb?

I've had some thumb joint problems that are scaring me lately, making me question whether or not I'll be able to continue to play sax.
For most of my adult life, my thumb joint will lock up on occasion. No big deal- I just flex it inwards and the joint will click (making a noise kind of like snapping your fingers). No pain and really nothing more that a nuisance.

However, a month or so ago my right thumb joint swelled up and was extremely painful. Rather alarming as I hadn't done anything to injure it in any way. The ER doc took an x-ray and said he didn't know what it was but that there was fluid on the joint. His soultion was to splint and wrap my hand to immobilize it.
The next day I happened to mention it to my massotherapist. She said her mother-in-law's knee joints swelled in the same fashion when her doctor put her on Crestor for colesterol. Coincedently (perhaps) I had been taking Crestor for several weeks before my flare up. I immediately stopped taking the Crestor. A few weeks later the swelling and pain had all but completely gone away and I was able to resume playing sax.
For the past several weeks it's back to hurting, but no swelling and not enough pain to prevent me from playing... until this week. There's no visible swelling but it's painful enough to be a major distraction and I'm afraid I'll make it worse by playing through the pain.
Any other players out there with a similar experience?