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Showing posts with the label #rheumatology

Leflunomide - DMARD 101

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Ahoy Fellow Fathomers...My life took a turn a few years ago when I became sick and started a quest to find out what was wrong. Several doctors, tests, and what seems gallons of blood later returns the result as Rheumatoid Arthritis, commonly referred to as RA. Swelling between thumb and first finger web RA frequently attacks more than joints in the body. According to rheumatology.org : What is rheumatoid arthritis? Swelling below my ankle bone RA is a chronic (long-term) disease that causes pain, stiffness, swelling and limited motion and function of many joints. While RA can affect any joint, the small joints in the hands and feet tend to be involved most often. Inflammation sometimes can affect organs as well, for instance, the eyes or lungs. The stiffness seen in active RA is most often worst in the morning. It may last one to two hours (or even the whole day). Stiffness for a long time in the morning is a clue that you may have RA, since few other arth...

Depression Fecking Sucks, Not Just Hurts

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I’ve decided to use my blog not only to writing, music, and other facets of entertainment, but, also to share my journey. I’ve had significant health problems for almost three years. Thank you for listening, periodically, I will have a new installment chronicling my journey- DEPRESSION CAN BE PAINFUL Although this time of year brings a warm glow to the core of most folks, we have a subset of people struggling to even wake up on Christmas Day. Depression/Anxiety/Bi-Polar/Fibromyalgia/MS/Sjogrens/Lupus/too many to list… Some seek help, some give up, some learn to live with it. It's not an easy life, but, it's one worth living. Which is the hardest part of all to remember, especially when you're in physical and mental pain. I had some of that pain yesterday.... I made the horrible mistake of miscalculating my Lyrica prescription  before it ran out. Taking the last pill on Monday morning, I called the script in to my amazing Kroger pharmacy. I arrived a...

Just Out of My Grasp - How Much is Too Much?

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12/05/2013 Ahoy Fellow Fathomers, I’ve decided to use my blog not only to writing, music, and other facets of entertainment, but, also to share my journey. I found out on June 19, 2013 the reason for many of my ongoing health problems is because I have systemic lupus, also known as SLE. BRAKE HERE- I visited the University of Colorado, Denver November 13, 2013 for a second opinion. The incredible Dr. Susan Boackle University of Colorado Rheumatology agreed to see me as a new patient. She evaluated all my medical records to date and worked me into her schedule. She took a 2 hour comprehensive history with me, ordered urine tests, x-rays, and also blood tests. The phlebotomist drew 19 vials of blood for all the tests. I had juice and cookies before they let me stand up, they took almost as much blood as a donation for blood drive. I waited almost impatiently for the week to be up and my results. I wanted to know if the medication I was taking was appropriate for what was going ...