Relapse

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well and dealing with the

tragedies of last wk okay. I am still in shock myself

as I think everyone in the world is.

Anyway, I thought I'd let you all know that I have been

feeling much more sick in the last 2-3 wks than I have

all summer. My pain has come back full force, I am

having a horrible time with memory (is this what

everyone calls brain fog???), my fatigue is severe, and

my eyes and mouth have gotten severely dry again. The

memory thing is really worrying me, as I haven't had any

problems with memory since 1997, and even then when all

my health problems started, it wasn't this severe and

problematic.

Anyway, I was wondering if I could contribute my

worsening of symptoms to the death of both of my

grandparents 2 wks ago. I lost them within 4 days of

each other, and then was not able to go to the funerals

because of work. But my symptoms were worsening before

that.

I saw a rheumy here in Seattle today, and he agreed with

me that I'm having a flare of lupus (so I guess it isn't

completely gone), fibromyalgia, and Sjogren's. As much

as I didn't want to, I agreed to restart some meds that

were very helpful in the spring. I restarted

methotrexate, evoxac, and got a rx for vicodin. In

addition, I asked him about Vit B12 injections, and

whether he used them, believed in them, and would he be

willing to try it out on me. If you all remember, my

rheumy in Denver felt that B12 injections were not

necessary and caused people to have the placebo effect.

This doc is just the opposite. He uses B12 injections,

feels it works, and thinks I could benefit from it. So

I got my first shot today. OUCH---they hurt!! At any

rate, it is interesting to see different schools of

thought, and how docs in different parts of the country

view treatments. This rheumy in Seattle also knows my

rheumy in Denver, and has a great deal of respect for

him. However, they differ greatly in their opinions.

Anyway, he drew a bunch of labs, and hopefully I will

get the results by the end of the wk. I will be curious

to see if my ANA titer has gone up. I also had him

check my thyroid, as I feel I might be hypothyroid.

Now, my question to everyone who takes B12 injections is

how do you give it to yourself, or how does your doc

give them to you? And how often do you get them? I

told him that I would inject myself, thinking that they

were SQ injections, but I got it IM today, and the

pharmacist said that it should be given IM. My drug

book says it can be given either way. I don't know if I

can give myself an IM shot!! So, how does everyone do

it? And he told me to give myself an injection every

month. I thought that it was more frequent. So, any

and all info would be greatly appreciated.

e