Back to the Drawing Board

Doctor’s, jeez. I wish they would make up their minds. I was sent to a specialist after being told that I had Rheumatoid Arthritis only to be told by the specialist that it may be something else. So, back to the drawing board, they still don’t know what’s wrong.

The doc said that while the one test came back positive for RA not all of my symptoms are matching up and a second more detailed test came back negative. She said that if it was RA I should already have nodules on my hands and I don’t. It seems that the majority of the joint problems I do have are in areas not commonly affected by RA. So…she thinks because the focus is primarily on my back, and hips/pelvis area that I may have Inflammatory Back Disease instead. Supposedly, it’s a disease that is under-diagnosed due to doctors not always recognizing symptoms. The actual non-layman term is Ankylosing Spondylitis and it does seem to be a better fit to the “symptoms” I’ve been having. Both RA and AS are inflammatory diseases, which explains why the symptoms are similar. I guess we’ll have to wait and see…again.

I’m tired of waiting, though, you know? This has been going on far too long. I really just want to know what the heck is happening to me. I have to go in for yet more testing on the 4th. I’m going to have to vote first, though, they said the sedative will make me groggy all day. I should probably just go and vote early like Charmi did, huh? I’m going to have to be sedated for the test. It’s only an MRI but it’s going to be rather extensive which means I’ll need to lie in one position, very still, for about an hour; and well…I can’t do that. Sitting, standing, lying down any which way you look at it I can’t be in one position more that about 10 minutes. I experience way too much pain and stiffness so I have to continually move around, shift my weight, and readjust. And yes, for anyone wondering; it makes it very difficult to sleep at night. In fact, I literally can’t stay in bed more than about 6 hours at a time. I have to get up and move around for a while and I wake up many, many times throughout the night changing positions and sometimes just getting up to walk around.

Crying out loud, I sound like a whinny thing. But, I figured since I had made the previous post after receiving word on the RA that I should make this one too. I know that several of you who read this blog know me, and care about me. Thank you, buy the way. I just want to make sure that you’re in the know and that all the facts are right. I guess I’ll let you know what I know when I know it. Until then, back to life as usual.

Life Goes On

So I haven’t written again for a while, I know. I had some issues, man. Seriously. Some of you know that I’ve had some health concerns going on for a while now. Well, I’ve gotten new word on my condition. I’ve known for some time that I have Degenerative Disk Disease, that’s why I have so much difficulty with my back and all that lovely sciatic nerve pain. I’ve also been having a lot of other stuff going on too.

Basically, because I haven’t had insurance I’ve been unable to find out for sure what the deal was. I lost my insurance about two years ago. My doctor, at that time, suspected that I had either Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis due to the many symptoms I had been displaying. I lost my insurance just before we were able to do the blood work to provide the final diagnosis. That means I’ve gone for the last two years, now, still having to deal with the crap feeling but not knowing what it is or having any way to treat it.

So, enter, HIP, the Healthy Indiana Plan it’s insurance provided by the state for people who do not have insurance due to either their financial status or because their employer does not offer it. Any way, I qualified and now I have insurance. This is a good thing and on a side note I feel I need to say (even though it makes me cringe) that Gov. Daniels did a good thing here with the program. So, insurance. That means I have been able to go to a doctor again. And I did.

I had the blood work done and now we know that I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. This has brought on a lot of mixed feelings for me. On the one hand, it was suspected, so it’s not exactly a surprise, and yet, it still feels surreal. It explains a heck of a lot, like the many, many attacks of pleurisy and the fact that some days I’m literally too sore to walk, or why I can’t grasp objects sometimes. The explanation is there and on a very positive note, now that we know what it is, I can begin treatment.

The way I understand it I have a decent chance of feeling much better once the treatment begins. That would be a welcome relief. I’m pretty tired of feeling crappy all the time, you know? I go to a specialist Friday and then we’ll see how things go. Yet, amidst the good stuff there’s still this lingering feeling of doom. I guess it’s having one’s fears confirmed or something. Maybe it’s just making me feel old. I don’t know. Like I said before, surreal pretty much sums it up. So I find myself caught up with these mixed feelings of hope and depression. I think I need some time to sort it all out. I’m really, really hoping the treatment will make me feel more human again, but after living in this much pain for the last several years I find myself afraid to hope too much. I guess we’ll just have to see. So, there you have it. My update on me. Sorry the post wasn’t more upbeat but…yeah, well, f*ck it. That’s life.