Giving In

The medications prescribed for Rheumatoid Arthritis are typically not geared at pain reduction. This was not explained to me by my first rheumatologist. I could not understand why the meds did nothing to take the edge off the pain and felt that the 24/7 nausea that resulted was not worth the tradeoff. 

Someone recommended that I try the Autoimmune Protocol Paleo eating plan to see if that helped and, indeed, my pain was eliminated.

The doctor agreed that since I was out of pain, I could go off the meds.

He eventually closed his practice and referred me to another rheumatologist. 

The new rheumatologist modified my diet even more and requested for me to research a few specific medications geared at modifying the progression of the disease (Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs or DMARDs, for short). In my research I found a statement to the effect of, “Pain is the indicator that joint damage is occurring.” He agreed that I could stay off the meds and monitor the situation.

Circling back to the situation at Podiatry the last few weeks… Both my regular podiatrist and my friends have repeatedly reminded me that my pain threshold is very high and more or less, “Are you sure you would have felt a problem?” 

I believe that I know myself very well so I say something that shows that I am not getting their point, “If there was pain, I would do something about it. There hasn’t been pain.”

Sometimes it takes a while to sink in but… perhaps my pain threshold is so high that I wouldn’t actually be aware of joint damage occurring.

Also, I normally need some time to think things through so one of my default immediate decision tactics is to make a decision that will buy me time. So, Monday I said that I would wait for the 3 month follow up with podiatry before going to rheumatology. That way I would know the rate of deterioration (they will take more x-rays and do more measurements).

Actually, I don’t want to mess around for 3 months and just wait for more damage to occur. 

There is a lot more information on RA available on reputable websites than there was 5 years ago, which was more than when I started this journey 10ish years ago. Also, there are groups on FaceBook where fellow RA sufferers commiserate and share experiences and information.

I started a little bit of research this week and discovered that a couple of other “symptoms” that I’ve been experiencing are characteristic of RA. I was debating on whether to go to the doctor over those so, I won’t. But when I started to put the whole timeline of those symptoms together with the foot and the fact that I’ve had RA pain flares 3 times in the last 2 weeks without any dietary reason, I realized that my body has probably been in an RA flare for a few months and I didn’t know it.

There is still more learning to do. It overwhelms my brain. 

But short term action…

I emailed the rheumatologist this morning and asked for the list of meds to research. I will look back through old pharmaceutical records and see if I can find the name of the one(s) that made me sick (so as to avoid). And I’ll probably move up my appointment with rheumatology to get started on modifying the progression sooner than later.

We’ll see if research leads to a different game plan in the long term.