LIVING LIFE AND LEARNING ALL I CAN ALONG THE WAY
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…
After reading RA Warrior’s blog today and finding a link to this article, I found myself in some interesting thoughts and conversations about drugs and treatment for RA/RAD. Firstly, although a digression from my main point here, I do want to address some of the problems I had with the article as relates to the…
Okay, so maybe I’m not holding on quite like *that* anymore…but, you know what I mean. Today marks two months (or, 9 weeks) since I first started Humira on December 8, 2011. If you’ve been following my journey, you know that I’ve been struggling to determine whether or not Humira is doing any better than…
As a Christian, I often turn to God’s word—the Bible—for encouragement, hope and even direction in life. Living life with an autoimmune disease raises lots of questions and fears, and I have no doubt that many often wonder (as I have done) where God’s hand is in all of this. People that don’t know the…
A friend of mine once told me that the motto of the #rheum-mates seems to be “we’ll see.” It’s true. There are a lot of unknowns with RAD–including how your body and disease will respond to medications–which often coincide with periods of simply waiting. Wait and see if the treatment works. Wait and see if…
As a Christian, I often turn to God’s word—the Bible—for encouragement, hope and even direction in life. Living life with an autoimmune disease raises lots of questions and fears, and I have no doubt that many often wonder (as I have done) where God’s hand is in all of this. People that don’t know the…
As a Christian, I often turn to God’s word—the Bible—for encouragement, hope and even direction in life. Living life with an autoimmune disease raises lots of questions and fears, and I have no doubt that many often wonder (as I have done) where God’s hand is in all of this. People that don’t know the…