Follow-up

[Guest guest]

First to answer a question...

Previously, I had said...

>Her advice is to go see a Hausarzt (GP) if and when my arthritis

>becomes painful enough to affect my quality of life (paraphrased),

>to have x-rays and consider various treatments some of which can

>be rather invasive (I gathered from her tone). Since then, I

>tried to learn more about it on my own, and think it prudent

>that I just go now. Here in my small town there are oddly a lot

>of rheumatologists (or whatever the right word is), since I live

>in a " Kurort " town in the old country, where hot springs are

>plentiful, and people have come for many centuries to have various

>maladies magically cured by these " Quelle " .

And " Snowbound " had asked...

>--Welcome Kieth. I like the friendly fire analogy for our

>autoimmune illnesses. What part of Europe is your small town in?

>I am in the U.S. and haven't travelled abroad alot. Good Luck

>with everything!

I live in Switzerland, not too far from Zuerich. Here there exists

(I think) a healthy mix of old traditions with modern thinking and

technology. And so while some people that come to the thermal baths

in my town probably believe in the power of these geological oddities

to cure various ills, the medical professionals are (from my

experience now) very up-to-date on the newest things in medicine.

So, anyway, yeah, I quite liked the rheumy-doc I chose, nearly at

random. Well, his practice had a website (which the others didn't

have), and it convinced me that he was not going to be surprised to

see someone under 40 walk into his office. So, to make a long(er)

story short(er), I had x-rays and blood work done...but I guess the

onset of PA is so recent (2-3 months) in me that he really couldn't

find much evidence that it was even there. Though looking at my

nails, scalp, and swollen fingers and toes, he had no doubt that the

diagnosis is spot on. Which didn't surprise me much...I really just

wanted to have those done (he recommended it before I even asked,

actually) to have a baseline of sorts established, and to see if there

might have been some joint damage that occurred in the pre-symptomatic

phase (since I think I read that this sometimes occurs).

Anyway, so I'm now taking Diclofenac, which I gather is just a

different, but similar, anti-inflammatory medicine to Celebrex that

seems so popular. But now I have two questions...

1. Lately (esp. in the last week), I have been abnormally tired and

have slept 10 hours several nights in a row. That's not usual, but

I don't know if it could be from the medicine (it says drowsiness is

a side-effect, but to me, that doesn't necessarily mean one sleeps longer,

just that one becomes 'sleepy' after taking a pill), or whether PA itself

could be responsible. How do you know? Other than stopping/starting

the medication (which for *me* wouldn't be a problem with such mild

symptoms, but...), and anyway then, your own mind may be leading you to

believe one result or the other, and so this test should really be done

'blind' which would be hard (for me) to do.

2. Is there a general relationship between the age that a particular

person has PA onset, or else the level of 'acceleration' that PA advances

during the first months/year of onset, and the eventual degree of

severity of the condition? I mean to say, if it comes on slowly over

three years in someone ~40 years old, and at that point only results in

mild symptoms, can that person be fairly confident that he/she will be

one of the lucky ones that only ever has 'milder' symptoms? Or does

that person still essentially face the same 'risk' of PA continuing to

worsen to the degree of having to move up to stronger drugs? I realize

that statistics would have to come from those who went on for many years

*without* being treated, since of course as soon as one starts treatment to

'avoid' the PA advancing, then that no longer is valid data to answer my

question. But I'm guessing that enough people have (unfortunately) gone

undiagnosed in the past, that these data must exist. The question is...

has anybody been able to put it together to make a conclusion one way

or the other?

OK, that's enough rambling for today. I'm sorry if I'm asking things that

have already been answered...the archives here are so huge that it is hard

to sometimes find things, and the search feature doesn't always respond

like one would hope, if you can't find the proper keywords, etc.

BTW, has anybody thought of trying out this new drug? It sounds

wonderful.

http://www.theonion.com/3936/news2.html

Ciao zäme...

[Editor's Note: Wie Geht's, ...Well. There are all sorts of data on PA, but

I'm not sure anyone has collated or abstracted anything coherent: In effect,

then, we have this blizzard of observations, bits n' bytes, factoids, etc., all

of which, at the end of the day, seem to contradict one another. I admit that's

a bit of hyperbole, but that's fairly common with PA people, who have

experienced one nasty surprise after another.

At least you've found a rheumatologist you like/respect; that's at least half

the battle. The one thing I've heard from PA people and docs that makes the most

sense (in the 40 years I've had PA) is, those who do the best overall is this:

They tend to be the most stoic, refusing to bow to or be limited by, PA. That

doesn't mean they try to tough it out without meds; in fact, the most useful

meds (for me, after the DMARDs and Biogicals) are the pain meds that are

Dorothy's Oil Can in the Wizard of Oz, to my Tin Man.

Good Luck, .

D.]

[Guest guest]

--Hello Kieth,

Your town near Zurich sounds charming. Also sounds like you hit upon

a good Rheumatologist. I agree that sleepiness and fatigue are

different. Unfortunately, both could be caused by medicine. For me,

the bad fatigue is usually associated with the illness itself but

some medicines can definitely exacerbate it. To find out, you may

need to self study, Which even though it doesn't involve a blind can

be the most accurate for ourselves. Statistics from the double blind

studies can give me headaches...50% of participants saw at least a

20% improvement??? Only way to know is to try the medicine ourselves

and see what it does for us.

The national Psoriasis Foundation (USA) says that if the onset of PA

is in childhood it is " often " more severe. I think you have a shot

at keeping a mild case anyway. There is hope for that.

Good Luck with everything!

Marti

[Guest guest]

I had x-rays and blood work done...but I guess the

> onset of PA is so recent (2-3 months) in me that he really couldn't

> find much evidence that it was even there.

Hi....just to let you know I have had this horrible disease for over

two years now and have never had ANYTHING show up in my blood work or

x-rays. I am not upset about this except I loss the use of my hands

from pain and often could not walk because of my feet and for the

longest time I thought " for sure I must be insane! " Until I found

this group and also found out that there are other people who are in

as much pain (and more) and have had little to no evidence other than

symptoms. My doc says that this is a disease that must often be

diagnosed by symptoms for many people.

As far as being tired goes.....Fatigue has been an on and off

constant for me prior to meds and it is a very different kind of

tired. It's not " I stayed up too late tired " or " mommy tired " it's

just a very different tired.

Hope that helps some....

[Guest guest]

>

> Hello Bee,

> I made most of these changes you recommended in the articles over the past

year (I spent hours reading them), lost 65 pounds, and am digesting a lot better

(comparatively) & feeling a lot better. I did the 9 day cleanse. I am simply

wondering when - at what stage - how many years - or is there a way to tell when

I can reintroduce quinoa and cream.

+++Hi Judith. Since it takes 1 month of healing for every year you've been

unhealthy it will be some time before you start introducing anything.

+++When you do " try " them, don't change anything else for 5 days in a row after

having a serving. Within 5 days you'll be able to determine if it is okay or

not. Of course quinoa must also be prepared properly like all grains, nuts and

seeds, before they are fit to eat.

Is it just a feeling? Is there a way to reintroduce things so that your stomach

gets acclimated to digesting grains again?

+++Only have grains that are properly prepared, and don't use any genetically

modified grains, which are the gluten grains. Use grains that are more

seed-like, i.e. buckwheat, millet, quinoa, amaranth.

How can you tell the difference between candida and just needing to get your

stomach used to to foods one has not eaten for a long time.

+++Your stomach doesn't need to " get used " to any foods you haven't had for a

long time. When your body is ready your stomach and digestion will be fine.

All the best, Bee