LIVING LIFE AND LEARNING ALL I CAN ALONG THE WAY
I have my next appointment with my rheumatologist on Tuesday. It’s hard to believe that it has already been six months since I was last there. And that I’ve had very minimal pain or symptoms in the past six months. I have to say, I am glad I decided to make the switch to Humira…
It’s hard to believe, but it has now been a full year since I have been on Humira to treat my rheumatoid disease (i.e. rheumatoid arthritis). Click here to view all of my blog posts along this journey. I made the switch from Enbrel to Humira in December of 2011, after a period of elevated…
This month marks 10 months now that I’ve been on Humira. Overall, it has worked great, and I have not experienced any side effects. It was a little rough getting started, but I really feel like I have continued to make progress since March and feel the best I have in a long time. I’m…
I don’t like to think of myself as a forgetful person, but sometimes I am. When it comes to taking medicine, I can usually get into a routine and keep it going without forgetting very often. Of course, this is easier under a couple of conditions: 1) When the medicine is taken daily, 2) When…
I am past due for a RAD update, so here it goes: I had my last appointment with my rheumatologist in June, shortly after I returned from vacation. Since the beginning of March, I’ve been slowly but steadily improving, with my rheumatoid arthritis symptoms becoming less severe and less frequent. The only real persistent symptom…
It’s time for my next update to my ESR chart. You can read about the Sed Rate Saga and my switch from Enbrel to Humira to treat my rheumatoid autoimmune disease back in December. I’ve been tracking my Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR / Sed Rate) –a measure of inflammation — since that time, trying to…
Many rheumatologists have seen the benefits in measuring patient reported outcomes, rather than only relying on visible symptoms and blood tests to show disease activity and treatment efficacy (although, judging from other patients I’ve heard from, perhaps not *enough* doctors…). Patients definitely see the benefit in this as we know that we know better than…
A couple months ago, I decided to get serious about keeping track of my medical records and really taking ownership in the management of my health care. It is my body, after all. This led to me requesting files from several doctors, the creation of at least one spreadsheet and a chart (because what are…
Today I had my follow-up appointment with my rheumatologist to evaluate how well Humira was working after three months. I switched to Humira in December of 2011 from Enbrel, because my sed rate and inflammation were high, and my disease was not well enough controlled in my doctor’s opinion. He was seeing joint space narrowing…
My next appointment to see my rheumatologist is on Tuesday. We’re going to have to evaluate how well Humira is working to try to determine whether to continue the treatment course I’m on or to change it up some how. If you’ve been following my Humira story, you’ll know it’s been kind of hard for…