New chick

[Guest guest]

Awwww, I've been found out! I wanted to lurk for a while before yakking.

But, I got my " welcome to the list " today.

I'm Kirsten (pronounce like " ear " ). 34 years old and married 3 years this

May to . We have 2 boys. will be 12 years old in June (he's

from my first marriage, adopted him 2 years ago) and is 18

months old. We live in Salt Lake City, Utah. teaches computer classes

all over the valley (5 different part-time jobs) and no health insurance. I

work part-time at home for a small real estate company making flyers and

typing letters, etc. My mother lives a couple of miles away in a nursing

home. She has Parkinson's Disease and is wheelchair bound.

While I was halfway through my pregnancy with my thumb joints began

to be very painful and inflamed. They're disfigured now as well as the

index finger on my right hand. The finger can only bend halfway and doesn't

straighten out all the way. I've got all the other " pains " , etc. I was

" officially " diagnosed last summer with fibromyalgia. I've been taking 20

mg of piroxicam (generic Feldene) for about a year. I also take 100 mg of

Zoloft for depression and OrthoCept (birth control pills) to help control

acne. I've just recently started on Zantac 300 mg to protect my stomach

from the piroxicam. I use Triamcinolone .5% on my plaques. I also slather

myself with extra virgin olive oil after I shower. That has helped very

much. I just started using Kay Extra Emollient Night Cream on my

plaques at night. Most of the next day, my skin was soft as a baby's

bottom. hahahaha I was very surprised and happy that it worked.

I am online a LOT and ran across a paragraph that says fibromyalgia does NOT

disfigure the joints. That got me thinking that I don't have fibro. I've

always felt I had a form or arthritis so I did some investigating. Turns

out I have PA. I took 30 pages of information I got from the internet to my

doctor. I told him I think I have PA instead of fibro. He said he needed

to look up PA and then I handed him my stack of papers. He smiled and

thanked me for doing his job for him. He agrees with my diagnosis and

I have an appointment to see a rheumatologist the end of April to confirm

that I have PA.

Most of my days are spent on the couch trying to keep from

destroying our home. He's a VERY energetic boy! I've been using my cane a

lot more lately. I just got permanent handicapped parking licence plates

for the car yesterday. That really helps a LOT! I also bought a splint for

my right wrist since it hurts so much. I only wear it when I'm in a lot of

pain and sometimes wear it when I'm asleep.

Sorry this is so long.

My sister-in-law just lent me a Nikken magnetic mattress pad and magnetic

cervical pillow for sleeping. They claim I should see results in 2 months.

We'll see. I'm skeptical, but it's free so I'll try it.

Well, that's me. I'm sooooo glad I found this list. I really feel alone

with this PA junk. I hope to get some great ideas from everyone here on how

to cope with this icky stuff and make some new friends.

Thanks for welcoming me,

Kirsten