My rheumy visit today

[Guest guest]

He everyone. Just wanted to let you all know the

results of my rheumy visit today.

I have good and bad news.

The good (and amazing) news is that I'm no longer

testing + for lupus!!!! My titres are negative, as are

the antibodies for lupus. He's not sure if the lupus is

gone forever, or is just dormant now. But at any rate,

there is no clinical signs of disease process going on.

He still very strongly feels that I have a connective

tissue disorder, and has said that I have a

undifferentiated connective tissue disease, formerly

known as mixed connective tissue disease. This includes

fibromyalgia.

The bad news is that I have been fighting a severe cough

for 8 wks. I have failed 2 courses of antibiotics, and

the cough is getting worse. I'm barely coughing much

up, but the cough is so severe that I'm having terrible

chest pain. I had a CXR done in his office today which

was normal. So, I don't have pneumonia or TB (which I

was beginning to think I might). However, my airways

are very constricted and he says that my symptoms are

very suggestive of asthma and/or reactive airway

disease. He can't tell whether these are permanent

conditions or temporary, but he was concerned enough to

refer me to a pulmonologist/critical care doc. And he

put me on an inhaler, Cipro, and (finally) a cough

medicine. The pulmonologist wants to do PFT's

(pulmonary function tests) and an ABG (arterial blood

gas). I'm not looking forward to that--it is going to

hurt a lot. I'm used to drawing ABG's on pts; never

once did I ever think I'd have to have one drawn from

me. But he is also afraid that since my airway is

constricted that I will either go into status

asthmaticus or go into acute respiratory distress, so

these tests, plus the inhaler are absolutely necessary.

However, I hope these aren't permanent conditions, as I

can't imagine having to carry an inhaler with me the

rest of my life, and always be afraid something will

trigger the attacks.

So, that's the scoop from out here in Colorado.

e