Rheumatoid Arthritis

by meerlap I'm reading RA article today as I pass some time and see what is new on the market. One article on Web MD talking about if a biologic pill is possible stuck me funny as I read about what Rheumatoid Arthritis does. "RA, an autoimmune disease affecting 2 million people, happens when the body engages in friendly fire against its own joints and tissues, causing inflammation, pain, and joint damage" Friendly Fire now that is a very nicely way to put it. The article is very encouraging though. I take Orencia. Even with my insurance it would cost me $300 a month. I have 90/10 insurance as well, so I only pay 10 percent after deductible is met. Thankfully Orencia has a program for co-pay helping taking the amount paid down to only $5 a month. Loss of my job would me loss of medical care for myself. Depending on how long you have followed this blog, I have already done several years without medical. A wonderful toll on my body, but it is what it is. The a...

by jconejo Natural remedies seem to work for some and then not for others. I have often wondered why. Was it their state of mind? I don’t think so. Personally I have tried many of them. As with the prescribe meds natural remedies can also have side effects. Check out this article on WebMD for more info. Now I’m not saying natural remedies don’t work. I personally think that is how the doctors got started. There are some things to consider. If you are already take medicine from the doctors then you really do need to check with the doctor. The natural remedy and the prescribe medicine could interact with each other. Especially with biological meds that are being used for RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis). Another thing to consider is the severity of the disease. There is light, mild, and severe. I have severe RA. According to WebMD article , men tend to get more severe symptoms. Since everyone can have different ways that RA affects them, there are many ways for treatment. Some many di...

Although my 1st visit with the new Rheumatologist didn't go well, I'm going to stick with him for a little bit. One main reason is that Rheumatologist are so hard to find and this one is less than a mile from my home. So as long as he is good I'm going to put up with a little rude bedside manor. However I am going to tell him to back off on my weight and there is no way I'm consider lapband surgery for a mere 70 pounds. I have took myself off the prednisone (was 5mgs a day) since the appointment and have already lose some weight. I'm not going back on the prednisone unless I have to.

I met my new Rheumatologist, he is not going to be my Rheumatologist for long. He kept going on about my weight and how being over weight can lead to being Diabetic and it runs in my family. Well I know lots of people who are very skinny and has Diabetes and I know many over weight people who don't have diabetes. Don't get me wrong I know diabetes is controlled well with good eating habits but I don't have Diabetes.. Plus the only reason I put on a few pounds is because they keep putting me on Prednisone. I still suppose to take 5mg a day... well I refuse to take any more of it. So today I called my family doctor and asked for another referral because the last one is going to work out. So far I haven't been asked for details but the Rhematologist talked very little about the RA and how it affects me and more about Diabetes that I don't have... maybe/hopefully never will. He even mention a lap band surgery... now I am 70 pounds over the ideal weight but I don't...

Its 2 am and I'm awake because I got an itchy side effect from my meds. Its happens sometimes so I took some benadryl and waiting for that to start working. Yesterday morning was horrid. It took 5 hours for my RA to stop hurting in the morning. My upper back is very sore the mussel cramp and hurt to touch. I used a heating pad off and on for the back, shoulder, and legs. The odd part is the pain shoot down my arms and they were shaking. I wanted nothing more but to climb into bed, but that wasn't an option. I made it through work however. I took a nice hot bath as soon as I got home. Which I could stayed there longer. My neck is sore right now with the itchiness so now fun right now either. I'm interested in either getting some kind of access to a pool or hot tub  or maybe I can get my doctor to get me in some aquatic therapy. I have an MRI schedule Monday at 7am. This should be early enough so I don't miss work. Doctors at the care today clinic want to make sure ...

Doctor appointments are just part of having RA, like many other conditions. Majority of the problem is paying for the doctor but then fitting all the appointments into your schedule can be hard as well. Last month I had to cancel my appointment due to schedule change at work and set it for February 25, then yesterday I got a call that the doctor had to cancel the appointment. Frustrated to say the lest. The Orencia I don't feel is working that wonderfully.. on the other hand if my sed rate is getting better maybe it is worth it to keep using. I was really looking forward to the appointment for the answers to my questions. Well my next schedule weekday off was Feb 25th, doctor is not available that day either. So I got taking March 11th for my next appointment. Thankfully I have wonderful co-worker who help me out by switching days. My day job is a stressful job for most but I can normally handle that stress, but the stress I get from the doctor and the doctor's nurse if en...

Sleep eludes me once again. Highlights and struggles of the day replay in my head. I try hard to lie still in bed. I was almost there, almost asleep when I heard a bump. The bump could have been a car, a child rolling in bed, or an sound from the heat of the furnace. Whatever that bump was I was wake. I put my hair up in soft curlers. Added some sparkles to my nails and some 24 hour makeup to my face. I laid back down but the sounds of husband sleeping was enough to convince me to go down the stairs. Hopefully I’ll find something quiet to do and feel sleepy again soon. There is eight hours of work tomorrow that I really need some sleep for but it is too late now to take a sleep aid or I’ll never get up on time. My husband is also having issue with joint pain. He has a degenerative disc disease which has already cause him to have a spinal fusion around 2002. I’m the only one working right now due to his health problems. He was trying to clean at a local truck stop that had sh...

Lots have changed since my last post. I was told to stop taking everything. The rheumatologist thinks rituxan is not working for me. I started to feel much much better. Then the rheumatologist put me back on methotrexate and 5 mg of prednisone. Big Day coming up October 29th. the day to try Orencia. Not too sure how I feel about it, but I'm willing to try it. My Rhuematologist is very good so I trust she will find the right answer in the end. Thank god my insurance has an out of pocket cap. I won't have to worry until January as I have already met my out of pocket cap for this year. I will share the wonderful expense and experience as we go through this new treatment. Fingers crossed this works cause I hate needles. From what I understand I'll have three infusion, taking about an hour each, two weeks apart. Then once a month. I'm expecting big results for getting an IV once a month or we won't get too far with this treatment. Overall things are going really we...

Well my insurance company at work it trying to help make everyone healthier by offering step pedometers. They would like us to walk 10,000 steps a day. Sorry not possible here but I am trying to do more.  My step pedometer does say I walk 3000 steps on an average work day where I don't do too much. But 10,000 steps, it would be nice to do that much walking but since I don't know what is causing the odd flare ups, I'll just have to play it one day at a time. I love to go hiking, shopping, and spending time at Dollywood and Dollywood Splash Country, so I'm sure on those days I do that many steps, but I'm often left sore for the next few days. Today I have had even more fun with odd strong pain through my left knee. The oddest part is that it hurts for no reason. I was woke up this morning at 2 am with very horrible pain, yet I walked OK to my bathroom. The pain in strong and it comes and goes. It not just an ouch, it brings tears to my eyes and leaves me praying f...

I had to go to the urgent care today. Yesterday was a very very bad morning. It started out well but at work I got wonderful cold chills and shooting pain in many joints. My lower back, knee, and hip where the top winners of the pain contest. I could have just cried, although that wouldn't have helpped much. It was really hard to keep focus at work. Finally after about two hours I was back to me. If that would have started at home I wouldn't have made it to work, so at least I made it work first. Last night I woke up with extreme knee pain in my left knee. At first I didn't move, but the pain continued. Then I rolled to my side and put a pillow between my knees. Then I grabbed the icyhot, bad idea.. that didn't help at all and the icy part seemed to hurt more. I carefully got up to the bathroom, I was expectin a hard time walking but I could walk on my knee just fine but the knee had this crazy sharp pain that just kept coming and going. In the bathroom I washed off...

It has been an interesting long week. I'm taking predisone which has been kind to give me the "I'm hungry" and "very hot" feeling. My wonderfully monthly period is also about to visit giving me that grumpy and tired feeling. All together just plain not feeling right. Yesterday I had a very weird ordeal happen to my right hand. I was using my mouse right after typing and got a cramp in my right hand. Now I have had cramps before, but you could see this cramp. My pinkie finger was forced under my ringer finger and I just couldn't move my hand. I didn't try too hard either as I could feel a very tight pull, see and feel a mussel on the right side of my right hand. I quickly got up and went to the bathroom to put hot water on my hand. With in a few seconds under the hot water the cramp stopped and my hand snapped back into motion. The pain was too bad, more scary then anything. Now I've work 5 and 1/2 days this week. Only worked half a day toda...

I had the Rituxan infusion on February 28 and on March 20th. I had done this back in 2007, after that treatment everything went well and I had little flare up for a year. Not this time unfortunately. I felt good afterwards,  but I'm currently on the third week of a good flare up. Sadly, I had to miss two days of work this week. I had to rest at home with cyclobenzaprine, tramadol, and prednisone. Thankfully I did have sick time to cover my days off, but I have recently been promoted at work and feel really bad leaving my co-worker short handed at work. The best way to describe how I feel would be to imagine your shoulders and neck mussels as tight as they can be. Pain goes from the should to the elbow off and on. My right hip hurts with pain going down the side. As the meds have helped some my back is feeling better but very sore and my hip has a pinch type pain inside of it. The meds are not my favorite either. The cyclobenzapine is to be used two hours before bed,...

Stress is one things that doesn't help. When a person feels stress their RA hurts even more. A great way to help reduce the pain is to find ways to help relieve stress. This blog is one of my ways to relax, share, and de-stress. Finding ways to relax is very important. Rheumatoid Arthritis it self is an address stress to life. There are time when the pain, tiredness, and the destruction of the body or lack of being able to move are just more than a person can bare. No one wants to have to need someone to do daily functions. Rheumatoid Arthritis can affect anyone children, women, and men. It is treatable, but not curable. One of the biggest stress is affording the medical treatment. If a person is able most Rheumatoid Arthritis can be treated by doctors and/or change of diet so a person can live a normal life. Left untreated and the RA damage will soon be visible. My life is currently dependent on my family. Without them I highly doubt I would be able to keep up the daily work t...