Rheumatoid Arthritis

Lately I haven't been 100% happy with my rheumatologist. She a great doctor but I keep getting the feeling she doesn't have time for me. Now I'm having a wonderful flare up. She called me in a prednisone again but I'm still having issues. Then my work schedule changed for June so I called to switch the next appointment date. When I called I found out she claims to be leaving June 20. I say claim because they said this twice last year. Well I'm tried of playing these games. So I have called my family doctor and asked for another referral. Now my insurance doesn't require a referral but for some reasons the doctor office does. Well it been almost a week and my family doctor's nurse has not returned my call, so I have made an appointment for Monday to see him. Beside I'm still enjoying this wonderful flare up anyhow. Finding a new doctor can be so stressful. I don't really want to drive far, but don't want to have to keep switching and I want so...

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...

My friend Brenda shared this link with me: http://www.herbsandoilsworld.com/is-this-the-most-important-oil-to-put-in-your-body/ It is about black cumin oil which says it helps to increase the body's immune system. It also talks about a study from 1987, which for me doesn't say much because we have come a long way in medicine since that time. I have an honest question. Not putting anything down but trying to understand. RA, Rheumatoid Arthritis, is due to the immune system attacking the joints. Most of the prescription drugs we are given lower the immune system to help slow down RA, so is increase the immune system a good idea? So if you use or know someone who uses black cumin oil, we are looking for your opinion. I'm also looking for a few opinions on my above question. Note: picture is by nikareteku

Update on my husband. He doesn't have RA, which is good. He has fibromyalgia and osteoporosis. Not the worlds best news but it could have been worse. The doctor did suggest that he should bend and was going to send a report back to his family doctor. I have no clue what he'll do for a job. At least he can go work most of the year at Dollywood. They worked with his back issues last year and took care of him. Last year he quite smoking. Now this year his working on getting more of his health in order including loseing weight. Just going to be having to watch our money really close until Dollywood opens and I hope they have a job for him.

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...

Now the new year has begun and for many of us it is time to meet our deductible. For people like me it not only meeting our deductible but also hitting our out of pocket cap as well. My prescription for the Orencia injections is $2535. Now my deductible is $2350 and my employer helps to pay $1250 of that. Once the deductible is met I get 90/10 insurance, which means the insurance pays 90% while I pay 10%. This continues until I meet my out of pocket cap, then the insurance pays for everything. Now my out of pocket cap, as long as I stay in network, is $4850. Now you can quickly see where I'm going to go right through my out of pocket cap. Making the 1st of the year very hard for my family as the bills rack up really fast. Now there is no way I have the money I would need upfront for the Orencia, but thankfully I have a card from Orencia that makes it so I only have to pay $5 out of pocket each month. So that will be a huge blessing for our family. Just to make life a lot more...

Now I know everyone get those feelings at times. The ones that makes them feel odd or think no one understand them. However I get this the worst when I use my wheelchair. I don't always have to use a wheelchair. With RA it depends what day it is. If I have step wrong or something is flaring up or if I done too much walking or shopping for one day will all cause me a need to either stop or use the wheelchair. Well I totally refuse to stop. I'm going to do what I want one way or another. On the same side though I can't enjoy shopping or effectively shop wisely if I'm in pain. My husband and I had been out Christmas shopping. We had gone threw four thrift store, a mall, four stores, and was about to go to walmart. Now Walmart never has enough electronic carts to go around so my husband pulled out my own wheelchair. Inside we found a bulky item at a great price that he wanted to run out to the car. (don't want to give away the item yet). So he went to check out and wo...