The body does you bad

Update: They don't know what I have.

They know that I do not have rheumatoid, sjorgens, or lupus. But they also know that I had a high sed. rate which means I have inflammation. This was a bit surprising since I didn't feel like I was having a flare up at the time. I've probably just gotten use to that level of inflammation, which is a sad thought. I also have low Vitamin D, even with all the milk and cheese and whatnot that I eat.

So, I've been placed on plaquenil to treat the inflammation and to hopefully stop the flare ups and therefore stop the damage. It's a drug that causes GI issues and can lead to blindness over an extended period of treatment. I have to go to the opthamologist every 6 months to look for eye changes. It's also a drug used to treat malaria, so I'm all set to go to africa now. I also have to take a super duper vitamin D pill once a week, which can also cause nausea. But it also causes constipation, so maybe it and the ridiculous amount of iron I'm taking every day will stop the diarrhea from the plaquenil. You know, silver lining and all.....

Traitorous body

I know I have been remiss in posting to the blog. I just don't seem to have much that I want to really write about lately. Not sure what that's all about. But here I go on another tangent.

Most of you know that I have struggled with painful attacks every so often that make my joints hurt. This has been going on for probably 10 years or so. I've been tested and scoped in just about every way possible and nobody could find anything wrong with me. Basically, I was told to take some ibuprofen when it hurt, which was okay at the time.

I've been pretty awful about going to the doctor for some time. You get tired of saying the same things over and over and nobody ever finding anything wrong with you. But my attacks have gotten much more severe and I have pain that doesn't go away even when the attack is over. My knees hurt so much that I avoid stairs all together. If I chase a kid, I can hardly walk the next day, I can't push in the clutch without it hurting, and it's hard to get in and out of my seat. So, I finally went back to the doctor. Got yelled at for not taking care of myself and sent back to the Columbus Arthritis Center.

During my visit to the arthritis center, I was stabbed three times to get blood and x-rayed enough to probably exceed my radiation allowance for a year. My knees had been x-rayed the last time I was there, and showed nothing. This time, it showed that I have arthritis in both knees. I've had constant pain in my lower back, so for the first time, my back was x-rayed and it showed a pretty good curve of the spine, scoliosis. Even though scoliosis runs in my family, that was a surprise. I was given some physical therapy exercises to do, told to go to Aquatic Adventures and join the arthritis swim program there and take alleve and tylenol arthritis strength.

I was actually pretty upset by this information. In six years, whatever connective tissue disease I have has permanently damaged my knees. What the hell is it going to be like in another six years? Not to mention, that spinal curve. Can't fix that. The best I can hope for is to live with this level of pain for the rest of my life. It isn't going to get better, but it will probably get worse. I was hoping for something that could be fixed with physical therapy or maybe even a minor surgery. Not this.

I can't tell you the number of people who've tried to point out the silver lining. "You know, they can do wonders with knee replacements now." I just try and smile, I know they mean well, but that isn't really something I'm dying to go through, okay folks?

I go back on Wednesday to see if the blood work reveals anything. I'm not holding out much faith since many of these things can't be found in blood work unless you're having a flair up at the time. Even then, they might not be able to find it. If they can identify it, there's an even smaller chance that it might be one of the ones that they actually have a therapy for.

I am doing better with all of this, adjusting to the idea. Still sucks, but not as depressed about it. But dang, one of those physical therapy exercises hurts! :)