Fatigue and triggers

[Guest guest]

Hi All

I think we belong to your group.

My husband, Colin, became unwell 3 years ago with painful knees,

ankles, elbows and wrist; Fatigue; and bone pain. After 2 years he

was found to have atypical coeliac disease and hashimoto's disease.

He went on thyroid tablets and a gluten free diet. Our understanding

was that all his symptoms would then go. This stopped him feeling the

cold, and got rid of his bone pain. His fatigue and joint pain were

not as bad, we no longer had to keep cold towels in the fridge for

when he his knees were really hot and swollen. But the pain never

completely went away (I have since read some research that says that

if you have coeliac antibodies then a gluten free diet will make a

difference with your PA).

He has just had 2 months of extreme fatigue and persisting knee

pains. It always seems to me that his knees become inflamed, has

whole body feels warmer, and he is then fatigued for the next 24/24.

He slept soundly for 11 hours most nights and woke feeling that he

needed more sleep.

Not sure if it fits in, but I always found that physical exertion is

his trigger, this was always followed by arthritis and fatigue. Colin

feels the cold weather and rainy weather is also a trigger. I will be

interested to know your experiences. Do others find that physical

exertion or changes in the weather trigger their arthritis flares?

Colin has just had a good run for 3 weeks with nearly no symptoms,

first time in 3 years, then this week he is back to normal (now I am

scaring myself that I call his ill health normal)

He was diagnosed with PA by a Rheumatologist this week. He has for

several years had scaly palms of his hands, sometimes with deep

cracks in them. I started him on some Daktarin Cream years ago

thinking it was one of those winter fungal things he had. A non

conventional treatment for P, but it definitely made a difference,

and he never got the pustules that some people get with their palmer

psoriasis. Maybe it was just the moisturisers in the cream.

The Rheumatologist has said to stay with the NSAID and also started

him on high concentration Omega 3. I can't find any mention of this

on this discussion board? Does anyone have an opinion on this?

Now for the big questions? Colin and I are living in a shed whilst we

are owner building our home. We started building 5 years ago,

needless to say that not much has happened in the past 3 years. We

patiently waited for his symptoms to disappear as he GPs told us of

vague diagnoses with promises of good health in the near future if

only we would stop bothering them.

So, what is this groups feelings. Am I reading horror stories of

ongoing +/- debilitating illness because you are a small group of PA

who are motivated by your symptoms to be active here? Do we need to

accept that is now as good as it gets and re-look at what our future

is (short term to start with ... to finish our home)

With persisting inflamed knees for 3 years is there likely to be

permanent damage? Should we be more aggressive now to prevent damage

or stick to the oil, NSAID and cold towels?

Apologies in advance ... this is only week one for us.

Kind Regards

Chris