RA in Kansas/ My story - part 1

[Guest guest]

June, I would love to see someone else, I assure you! But, this

has been a three year ordeal. Started with back problems in which I

was given a shot of demerol and introduced to Celebrex w/ Lortab 5 and

sent on my way. Weeks later I still wasn't better and after several

years of back and knee problems, I was finally given a blood test. I

had no idea what was go on. It came back positive for the Rheumatoid

factor in a titer of 20IU, with 10 being the upper limit of normal and

my sed rate was 22mm at 60 minutes. I was then told to only take the

celebrex, given a MRI, placed in physical therapy, and refered to a

rheumy. I had no idea at that time of why they did bloodwork and

especially why my back hurt so bad. I was then told by medicaid that

they would not cover celebrex anymore. It was a 2 month wait to see

the rheumy who rescheduled our appointment to a month after that. In

the mean time, I was on the doctor (well his office) about why was

the celebrex and/or flexeril upsetting my stomach. I was told very

abruptly that it wasn't possible for celebrex to upset my stomach. I

was also only told that my MRI was unremarkable. In June, I finally

after 5 months and twenty pounds of weight gain I got to see the

rheumy. He did evaul, x-rays, and blood tests. I was having a fairly

good day after all that time. My CBC was normal, hemoglobin was 14.7

grams, white count 11,000 and platelet count 328,000 with a normal

differential. Sed rate was 16mm at 60 minutes. C-reactive protein was

less than 0.2mg/dl, normal ) to ).9 mg/dl. His clinical impression was

that I probably did not have rheumatoid arthritis based on my exam w/o

functional status and was not rated. I had lost 2 inches in height and

he concluded that I have some degenerative arthritis in my back and

spine along with scoliosis with no mention of any factor in my blood

work. He prescribed daypro and would do a follow up about the daypro

in a month. I took it and had like a hive type rash. I was told to

discontinue it by my pcp and to continue with the celebrex. He then

just gave me samples of celebrex. I never followed up with the

rheumy, as it was 102 degrees and I had to drive 60 miles there in a

car with no air and only 2 windows roll down only on the same side. I

then was only seen by my last pcp for any problems and off and on sent

to physical therapy. In July of that year i then was having extreme

nausea and fainting like spells and went to see my pcp. He was on

vacation, so I saw the practioner or assistant? That was when all the

real trouble started...

I got to take a break for a minute. I'm gonna send this in parts so I

don't lose it like the last time!