Psoriatic Arthritis Journal - 2.5 year Update Page 63
Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:03 am
I will start at the beginning.
In the winter of 2008/2009 I started to experience knee pain and swelling and stiffness in my hands and feet. I was in transition between living in NY and moving to LA and under a good deal of stress due to the economic crisis that started ...well, a long time ago but came to a head in the early fall of 2008.
Gradually, over the following months we moved but the swelling and pain increased. Went to a GP and mentioned it. He snapped "What do you want me to do about it? I am not a knee specialist!" and did not send me to one.
I carried on. Then one day I woke up and my right shoulder was in excruciating pain. Went to a new GP. She seemed to think it all was in my head and prescribed me some Vicoden. I did not fill the prescription. Vicoden wasn't going to solve my problem! Even I knew that.
A few weeks later I was drinking a glass of water and my right wrist exploded in pain. I went back to the second GP and told her how easy it was for me to 'injure' myself and didn't she think something else might be wrong? She again seemed to think I was being hysterical but agreed to test for lupus and RA only at my strong insistence. She seemed very irritated at me for pushing her.
Nothing came up on the tests, so she again chalked it up to me being hysterical. People all over were beginning to treat me like a hypochondriac who liked attention. I had never in my life before made any mountains out of molehills when it came to health. Even my husband refused to acknowledge that it was totally out of character for me to behave that way and started to have doubts about my credibility.
But no-one could deny the swelling in my knee. That was evident.
So I got a referral to a knee specialist, a shoulder specialist and a wrist specialist. Three MRIs and X-Rays later and nothing came up that anyone could see. I went through a total of 18 weeks of physical therapy for all three 'injuries' and nothing helped. Some even made it worse.
Went to another wrist specialist because at this point I was living in a wrist brace. He wanted to do surgery. I refused because he could not guarantee that it would work and I am right handed. he put me in a cast for 2 months to 'heal' my wrist.
By now I was disabled. I could not drive. I could not walk more that a few steps. I could not do dishes, laundry or even wash my hair without help. My husband was understandably distraught, because he had to do everything and I could not work. We eventually had to move because I couldn't earn money. But technically I did not qualify for disability because I had no diagnosis, only pain that I alone was sure existed and some swelling in my right knee. We got a computer and outfitted it with voice-recognition software so I could write from home for a little bit of income.
Things were terrible. I was more depressed than I had ever been and no idea what else to do. Finally, a friend gave us the name of his rheumatologist and I went in for a visit.
Within minutes he had a diagnosis. Psoriatic Arthritis. I was so glad to have a name for it and to know I was NOT crazy! But there was no cure and the medicines they give you for it are extremely scary. Methotrexate. Azathioprine. Immune suppressants and chemo drugs that can actually cause cancer.
I could not take over-the-counter NSAIDs - they did not help. I am allergic to corticosteroids, so no luck there.
When I expressed my doubts about taking my Azathiorpine prescription the new rheumatologist yelled at me. I was getting very accustomed to abuse from doctors.
I began to take Azathioprine. Got sick immediately. Each week I would have a new side effect and go off the meds for one or two days, then come back one for a few until I developed the next side effect.
So I began to look around and found Dr Mac Dougall's site. Did not begin right away, but did say "Hmm. I wonder if I should stop eating meat and drinking any alcohol or caffeine and see what happens?" That helped overnight, or so it seemed. A good deal of my joint pain and stiffness subsided and I was left only with the pain in my right wrist and the right knee pain and swelling.
A few months passed. I was still off and on with Azathioprine but the side effects kept getting worse. I came back to this site, read everything I could find and started 'MacDougalling' on Monday January 10th.
My joint pains started to go haywire. They would come and go and travel from place to place. My sinuses cleared up and I began sleeping better. On the third day I developed a rash all over my body and shortness of breath, both serious side effects of taking Azathioprine. My rheumatologist took me off the meds for a whole week.
Two days after that I developed a TERRIBLE migraine. Went to bed in agony at 2 in the afternoon and took only aspirin for it to avoid other gut-harmful NSAIDs. Woke up the next day feeling refreshed and with a significant reduction in my pain, stiffness and swelling.
And so my journey begins.
In the winter of 2008/2009 I started to experience knee pain and swelling and stiffness in my hands and feet. I was in transition between living in NY and moving to LA and under a good deal of stress due to the economic crisis that started ...well, a long time ago but came to a head in the early fall of 2008.
Gradually, over the following months we moved but the swelling and pain increased. Went to a GP and mentioned it. He snapped "What do you want me to do about it? I am not a knee specialist!" and did not send me to one.
I carried on. Then one day I woke up and my right shoulder was in excruciating pain. Went to a new GP. She seemed to think it all was in my head and prescribed me some Vicoden. I did not fill the prescription. Vicoden wasn't going to solve my problem! Even I knew that.
A few weeks later I was drinking a glass of water and my right wrist exploded in pain. I went back to the second GP and told her how easy it was for me to 'injure' myself and didn't she think something else might be wrong? She again seemed to think I was being hysterical but agreed to test for lupus and RA only at my strong insistence. She seemed very irritated at me for pushing her.
Nothing came up on the tests, so she again chalked it up to me being hysterical. People all over were beginning to treat me like a hypochondriac who liked attention. I had never in my life before made any mountains out of molehills when it came to health. Even my husband refused to acknowledge that it was totally out of character for me to behave that way and started to have doubts about my credibility.
But no-one could deny the swelling in my knee. That was evident.
So I got a referral to a knee specialist, a shoulder specialist and a wrist specialist. Three MRIs and X-Rays later and nothing came up that anyone could see. I went through a total of 18 weeks of physical therapy for all three 'injuries' and nothing helped. Some even made it worse.
Went to another wrist specialist because at this point I was living in a wrist brace. He wanted to do surgery. I refused because he could not guarantee that it would work and I am right handed. he put me in a cast for 2 months to 'heal' my wrist.
By now I was disabled. I could not drive. I could not walk more that a few steps. I could not do dishes, laundry or even wash my hair without help. My husband was understandably distraught, because he had to do everything and I could not work. We eventually had to move because I couldn't earn money. But technically I did not qualify for disability because I had no diagnosis, only pain that I alone was sure existed and some swelling in my right knee. We got a computer and outfitted it with voice-recognition software so I could write from home for a little bit of income.
Things were terrible. I was more depressed than I had ever been and no idea what else to do. Finally, a friend gave us the name of his rheumatologist and I went in for a visit.
Within minutes he had a diagnosis. Psoriatic Arthritis. I was so glad to have a name for it and to know I was NOT crazy! But there was no cure and the medicines they give you for it are extremely scary. Methotrexate. Azathioprine. Immune suppressants and chemo drugs that can actually cause cancer.
I could not take over-the-counter NSAIDs - they did not help. I am allergic to corticosteroids, so no luck there.
When I expressed my doubts about taking my Azathiorpine prescription the new rheumatologist yelled at me. I was getting very accustomed to abuse from doctors.
I began to take Azathioprine. Got sick immediately. Each week I would have a new side effect and go off the meds for one or two days, then come back one for a few until I developed the next side effect.
So I began to look around and found Dr Mac Dougall's site. Did not begin right away, but did say "Hmm. I wonder if I should stop eating meat and drinking any alcohol or caffeine and see what happens?" That helped overnight, or so it seemed. A good deal of my joint pain and stiffness subsided and I was left only with the pain in my right wrist and the right knee pain and swelling.
A few months passed. I was still off and on with Azathioprine but the side effects kept getting worse. I came back to this site, read everything I could find and started 'MacDougalling' on Monday January 10th.
My joint pains started to go haywire. They would come and go and travel from place to place. My sinuses cleared up and I began sleeping better. On the third day I developed a rash all over my body and shortness of breath, both serious side effects of taking Azathioprine. My rheumatologist took me off the meds for a whole week.
Two days after that I developed a TERRIBLE migraine. Went to bed in agony at 2 in the afternoon and took only aspirin for it to avoid other gut-harmful NSAIDs. Woke up the next day feeling refreshed and with a significant reduction in my pain, stiffness and swelling.
And so my journey begins.