All right! Getting started on a new way of life; both exciting and a bit worrisome. Having already tried the mainstream medical ideas I know they don't work for me. It really seems that naturally is my only choice. Therefore, I am attempting to give myself the best start possible, but first let me give you a little of my history with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).
I believe I've had this disease for several years, even before I was diagnosed in 2009. In 2002, I believe it was, I hurt my wrist at work and they sent me to their workers comp doctor. He took x-rays of my wrist and hand and that's when I got my first picture of arthritis. He only took pictures of the one hand (my right) so it never dawned on me at that time that the other hand may be affected also.
Several months later, in 2003, I went to another doctor because my fingers would swell up at night, to the point that I had to remove my rings every night before I went to sleep. If not, I would wake in the night because the rings would be hurting my fingers and it would take soapy water to get them off. This was happening to both hands now. She drew blood and ran an arthritis profile but the RA factor didn't show up in that test. Since then I have learned that lots of people with RA test serum negative on their blood work. But at the time I thought I was free and clear!
Time passed with not much change until 2007. I got to the point that I could hardly sleep because it hurt my feet to lie on the bed. My feet and hands had also started burning, sometimes even turning very red on the soles of my feet and the palms of my hands. We were spending a lot of time away from home by then, working on the pipeline. It took 2 more years and some other ailments to force me to come home and go to a local doctor. I showed him my hands, which by now were staying swollen most of the time. His comment was "Well, there's arthritis and then there's Arthritis." He ran the arthritis profile and this time it showed up in my bloodwork. He prescribed an NSAID pain reliever which gave me no relief at all. When I returned to him 3 months later he added methotrexate and changed the NSAID to Celebrex. After a few months I did notice some improvement in the pain and was able to get a better night's sleep. I thought we were on the right track. In the meantime, he retired!
It was about a year later, in November of 2010, when I experienced my first flare-up. I had some knowledge of this from doing research on RA and had put myself into flare (by over-doing it in the garden) once before without it. This one though, seemed to come out of nowhere and it laid me out. I hurriedly found another local doctor because I needed help bad! An RA flare feels like the worst case of flu imaginable plus arthritis. This is where I got my first taste of Prednisone, the RA drug everyone has a love/hate relationship with. She started me off on a high dose that gradually tapered off. It rescued me immediately from the miserable grip of something worse than death; that's how I felt anyway. My new doctor set me an appointment with a rheumatologist. Then she moved! I don't know what it is about me and doctors now. They just don't stick around, for some reason.
I'll finish the background in the morning. Need to rest now. Been a very busy 3 days!
Thank you all for stopping by and sharing this journey with me.
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