In my soon to be 45 years, I have only ever had two run-ins with the Law. The first was doing 70 m.p.h. in a 55 zone. Pulled over by a Cincinnati policeman riding a tricycle-style motorcycle. Instant ticket!
The second was for driving under a railroad underpass, flooded with 2 feet of rain water, well marked with signs saying, "Do Not Enter". What I thought was to be an instant ticket turned out to be a verbal warning because the deputy had written the last ticket in his book to the car that went thru the underpass ahead of me!
So I figure I'm one for one, not to bad, eh? <Insert dramatic musical crescendo here>
If you're with me this far you may be saying to yourself, "What in the heck does law enforcement have to do with RA?????" Well, please allow me to explain.
This past Friday marked the start of the worst RA flare I've had since being diagnosed in April of 2009. I can truthfully say I'm miserable- and I know a lot of you out there have been in this situation more times than you care to count!
I've been working with my Rheumy. She's a nice lady, nice doctor, too. She listens to my whinging and really spends time making sure I understand how and why she suggests the medications and treatments she does.
My Rheumy's medication of choice? Prednisone. She loves it. I abhor it! Even in smaller doses it makes me want to eat 24/7. The worst part is, it alters my mood. I'm on edge when I take it; a total grump! And believe you me, that grump has been prone to violence on more than one occasion, but only toward inanimate objects such as the vacuum cleaner.
The start of the flare on Friday was light...but by Sunday it had escalated so badly that my pain was a 9 out of 10, and there was nothing I could do to ease that pain.
I called my Rheumy's answering service (which I had no clue existed until I called in to get her office hours for the following day, Monday). The nurse was very sympathetic and paged my Rheumy, who called the nurse right back. Rheumy wrote up a prescription for some painkillers and sent it off to my pharmacy lickety split.
She then had me make an appointment to see her on Monday, but the appointment was at 1:45 p.m. Normally, by that time of the day, the swelling in my joints is no longer visible. But I'm still plenty stiff. In order to show her the swelling, I took some pictures (recommended to me by another member here at RA Health Central, thanks again for this GRRREAT idea!) of my worst joints to take to the appointment.
About ten days prior to this flare I had been in to see my doc for a routine check up, and she ordered blood drawn. The results were in and my inflammation marker was 11.2 (she said 10 and below is normal), so I'm "slightly elevated." I'm sero-negative RA, so to hear that CRP was higher than the norm made me feel vindicated. At last! A real sign of RA!
I can see you in my mind, innocently driving around with cops in hot pursuit and the theme song from Cops playing in the background. Good thing you didn't stumble getting out of your car. You may have been on the ground with stainless steel bracelets on your wrists! What a day, eh Shine? Thanks for the good Sunday read. Once again you made me smile.
On another note, I am a bit concerned about your Rheumy and the whole inflammation issue. The ER doc seemed enlightened. What do you think about your Rheumy now? I don't know why good rheumatologists are so hard to find. Maybe they are just overworked or something because there certainly don't seem to be many of them around, at least not where I live. An hour south of where I live has the Univerisity and a teaching hospital and another hospital run by Barnes, an Orthopaedic hospital, etc etc etc. They still don't have that many rheumys.
Hope you feel better soon, Shine. Peace to you, my friend-V
V,
I'm so glad you saw the humor in my post! While it was happening it wasn't really funny, but afterward, once I got over the shock of almost being slung in jail for DUI, I laughed LOL
I'm extremely frustrated with my Rheumy is what I am! I saw one Rheumy prior to her, and he said no RA, just Fibromyalgia (because I'm sero-negative). So current Rheumy checks my finger joints, toe joints, wrists, elbows and arms and decides I do have RA, even though it doesn't show in the bloodwork.
But she and I have always been at odds over my pain. If she can't feel the inflammation, she thinks there should be no pain. I can totally understand where she's coming from, but....considering I'm sero-negative RA, wouldn't it suffice to surmise that there might be some inflammation hiding out in the joints that couldn't be sought out by touch?
So with this last flare Rheumy took pity on me and called in some painkillers. She's very conservative, though, so she ordered the lowest dose possible, and only enough for 10 days.
I've been to see her three times in the past week. That in itself should be a hint that I'm not well. And boy oh boy does she LOVE that prednisone. And I hate it. Hate it bad, V! It makes me crazy!
When Rheumy said she would treat my pain as well as the RA symptoms, I felt relieved. I hated thinking I'd have to have a Rheumy AND a pain management doctor for the same disease. It's maddening. But, I guess that just how it has to be.
Up until April of this year I had been seeing a pain management doc about 30 mins away from my home. I started with him because of a herniated disc in my lower back. Basically the painkillers he had me on at the time helped my RA pain, too. Unfortunately, his hours weren't the best, and my work was hassling me about missing work to go to his appointments, so I stopped seeing him. When I finally figured out that Rheumy only wants to do Rheumy stuff and not pain stuff, I thought about calling my old pain doc and begging him to take me back. And basically, that's what I did! I have an appointment with him on Tuesday! So seeing him and letting him do the pain stuff should alleviate my frustration with Rheumy for NOT treating it.
I'm basically in the same situation as you are, V. I live about 30 minutes north of Cincinnati. We have a teaching hospital there, but it's in a rather scary neighborhood and there aren't that many Rheumies there.
So I totally sympathize with your situation, V. So many RA pains/symptoms/frustrations and so few Rheumies!!!!!
Don't you just hate that you have to deal w/the pain of the disease and also worry about keeping your job?!? All that stress doesn't help, I'm sure. Just keep the faith that eventually things will settle down and you will find the combination of medicine that works for you, Shine. I love the way prednisone makes me feel. It doesn't make me crazy. Just takes the pain away. Unfortunaltely, I already have thinning bones and all the rest of the side effects aren't good for anyone. So sorry the prednisone doesn't help you. It's not good to take on a long-term basis, anyway, Shine. I'm guessing you are off tomorrow for the holiday. I think you said you have an appt w/the pain management doctor on Tuesday...let us know how it goes. God Bless........V