AT THE WATER’S EDGE:
LIVING LIFE AND LEARNING ALL I CAN ALONG THE WAY
rheumatoid arthritis
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Raynaud's Phenomenon: The Mystery of the White Finger
Hockey games can definitely induce Raynaud’s… For about as long as I can remember, my fingers have turned white when exposed to cold. My toes, too, actually. Sometimes the entire finger or toe; sometimes just part of it. They usually get at least a little numb, too. Sometimes it lasts for just a few minutes,…
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Forgetting My Medicine — And Other Small Victories
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…
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Feeling better, thanks to…
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…
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Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs & Pregnancy
Here’s a topic I’ve been able to find precious little about. So, I’ve decided to do some research since we do want to have kids someday, and it doesn’t look like my RA is going anywhere. While research shows that a lot of women experience a decrease of symptoms during pregnancy, there’s no guarantee that…
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The Sed Rate Saga: Headed in the Right Direction
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…
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Health Time Capsule
So, I signed up to receive prompts from WEGO Health for the Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge – it’s supposed to be one post each day. I thought it might be fun, but now I’m thinking I can’t commit to doing this every day right now. Nonetheless, I will participate where and when I can.…
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A Twist on Patient Reported Outcomes
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…
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Tracking My Progress
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…
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Humira Evaluation – Building the Doctor-Patient Relationship
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…
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Three Months of Humira
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…
At the Water's Edge 