Good Moaning Healing Well V11

It doesn't look like Vol 10 is locked yet....

Erin, I hope you start feeling better soon. I have no idea what tortilla chips do.

Everyone, I hope your Monday went well and a good week is ahead for all!

I'm gonna pay some bills and do the checkbook tonight - wish me luck!!!!!!!! May the Gods of Checkbook Balancing and Simple Math be on my side tonight!

***

 hey ya'll,

just wanted to drop a quick line.  i'm a little ( a lotta ) bad right now.  perhaps a bad flare? or something coming on?  but don't feel well.  bad GI issues.  cannot put weight on my knees without them giving in & hurts to touch/swollen/ PAIN. and no use of right hand w/ my fingers. argh this stinks...i was doing so good for a while.

this too shall pass?

been reading ALL posts but excuse me if i can't reply.

 

all started about wednesday.  so go figure.

 

the hand looks BAD! never had too bad joint deformity, but they've all shifted to the right (fingers) and turned swollen and a ruddy color. oh God and they hurt.

 

on top of it all this is making me a bit anxious too.  really thought i had this nipped in the bud for a bit.

 

rheummy friday: get knees done.

Dr. exam for SSI disability on the 16th.

PCP on 20th.

oy!  2 bloodworks in between.

had a nice vacation @ home with my honey.  miss em' now that i'm back @ my own home.

here's to better tomorrow's

Elcamino,
Funny you mention about thinking clearer when you take the Enbrel. I noticed that right after i get my Humira
injection i see clearer. It was the first thing i noticed. I have only had 2 injections so far, but did notice right after that
everything seems more vivid. Interesting............
Hope you enjoy your daughters dance recitals. I went to my nieces last weekend. Four hours long. Uggggh, but adorable.
Erin,
I am sorry to hear you are not doing well. Hang in there! You will rebound!!!!!
Caprie

 hey ya'll,

i'm alive.  hands bad when using them. still painful & swollen.

 

i want to chop my legs off! cannot wait to get these knees drained & injected w/ steroids (can't believe i just said that) but that's my only hope.

 

 aaah, i had my 1st HUMIRA reaction! geesh.  all over red, rash, itchy...ugh! just got some Benedryl. ok now a bit.

 

yeah, i'm in a very acute, severe RA flare (and i think the Crohns too). oy thank you all for your thoughts.

 

erin

Erin - I hope you feel better soon. I'm sorry you are hurting so bad.

Ducky - I spent too darn long on HW that night AND tonight and STILL have not hit the bills (i'm gonna be late if I don't get on it!) Last night the family went out....so I slacked off altogether!   I'll let you know how it goes.

ElCamino - have you ever tried acupuncture? my husband is a cashier and had some horrible problems with his arm and mobility. He found a really good acupuncturist and she surprisingly helped him out quite a bit.

The weather has turned here and I'm really achy....I'm trying to be careful not to let it get too bad (like I can control it?!), anyway, doing my best to keep the overall self under control <sigh.>

***

I needed a haircut 3 months ago!

Ahhh, the lottery! Then I could spend the money to invent me a self-typer, just THINK what I want to say and the computer types away at it.....my poor fingers would get such rest!

No Kidding! I wonder how well it works.

Technology never ceases to amaze me.....but I'm still waiting for Star Trek medical technology  - THAT I'd like!

How is everyone?  We haven't checked in in quite a while. 

Erin, I'm worried about you?  Are you ok?  How was your lovely weekend?

I'm the same.  I think my medications are doing something, but not nearly enough.  Also, don't know whether it's the plaquenil, the enbrel, or the combination of both of them.  I'm hanging in there, but completely losing my patience with this whole mess.  I realize it could be a lot worse, but I am just so tired of it.  And then, not having a definitive dx on top of all this.  The good news is that I've been carefully tracking pain and stiffness in my joints everyday now for the last 3 months.  I've charted the data in connection with the enbrel injections and guess what?  There doesn't appear to be any connection at all.  I can show the charts to my rheumy and see what he says, but I think enbrel may not be the right drug for me.  Unless I just need to add mtx to the mix.  Don't know what the next step might be, but rheumy did mention kinaret.  Don't really want to go there because he said that not a lot of people have a positive response to it.  But we'll see.  I don't see him for another couple of weeks.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Elcamino

El Camino, I so hear your frustration! Good for you on charting it all. I really should do that on so many levels!

I went and did my labs on Friday - so, we'll see if the bloodwork/insurance thinks it's lupus. I also saw the female doctor. She is doing an sonogram in 2weeks on me, wants to rule out any problems on the female end of things. She also sent me in for a handful of blood work as well.

I'm better from my 4 weeks of being "unwell" - joint problems could have been much worse, but it was the combo of that and so many other seemingly health-related ones that just really dragged me down. Then I went thru my bout of severe depression.  I think I'm on the mend finally (but still feel like a teeter-totter) and hope I can be free of that rollercoaster for quite a while. One can hope. Job is going okay....not great, but okay - that might be because of my 'mood' lately. Who knows.

To make things worse, with all that's gone on - I've put back on the little bit of weight I finally did loose. I feel like a COW. MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooo. Well, I AM cow, no wonder....   Well, enough of that, this is the arthritis forum, not the "I'm gonna eat myself in to an early grave if I don't cut it out..." forum. HOWEVER, this is the first week of summer - I did make goals for the summer and one of them is to start exercising and get off my fat behind (hmmm, I've heard that before) while the weather is good (of course, I have severe flares almost every July, but I'll do my best. Why do I know it's every July? because you can't forget when one spends one's birthday in angonizing tears more often than not.)  Oy, I hear that sorrow traing a-coming, so I'll end here and GET HAPPY.   I think I need to start seeing a shrink.....**

 

Too funny. The Enchanted Cottage just struck a chord with me, you know? Strange.

I have tried and tried in the past to loose with absolutely no luck. The doc basically said, 'your liver, your metabolism - it's all screwed up after all this...it's gonna take a long time with a LOT of hard work to get your body going..." So, needless to say, after all I've been thru, I just don't want to do it as I get so darn frustrated after TRYING so hard and not seeing even a few pounds drop. This old dog just enjoys her mood food and I'm gonna regret it in the end. I have children who need me and I need to do it for THEM if I can't at least do it for ME and tell myself those dang doritos (or whatever) will still be there next YEAR and convince myself, 3 months of dieting and not loosing more than 2 pounds is not a reason for giving up. I really do NOT want to die and I have too many close calls these last 3 years to know I'm not ready to leave just yet.

Hope you have a nice night**

elcamino i love the advice! esp #6 for some crazy reason.... i might try that one!

camama i know what u mean about taking care of ur self verses ur kidos! u feel so selfish if it becomes about "me" but a good friend told me if i am happy my kids will be too.... i still have trouble with that one! my kida r 17 and 14 and i still am the kool aid mom with tons of kids dropped off every weekend for me to feed and provide safe entertainment! while all their parents go out to the movies! but my kids r my life!

as for the weight gain i know that too well also! just in three months i have put on 18 pounds with the dang prednisone! i want off right now!!!!!!!!!!!! i hate my fat face! i think i am going to put a mirror full length on refrigerator door really i think i will try that! i use to be one of thoses pathetic people who never gained an ounce no matter what and now over the past ten years have turned into my worst night mare! the good year blimp! started with hormone therapy for early female stuff and is ending up with decrease activity and prednisone. i had a personal trainer at the gym last year and after 3 months of daily exercise plus with him 2 times a week i never lost but 3 pounds and he even couldnt believe it! he thought i was eating up a storm not to loose and i wasnt just HAD a great motabolism and now have none! anyway i am trying to love myself no matter what my wieght because my body is just my shell it is not the person inside and i am too old to please the world with the battle of my buldge if they judge me by it too bad! i like who i am as a person and if i can change my body great if not i am who i am! more to love ... or hate ... lol so dont eat the bag of doritos but if maybe a few baked ones with fresh tomato, basil salsa and a swig of lime? i love the fresh veggies this time of uyear and try to have them on hand but if ur body isnt gonna break that food down i feel like nothing will do it for me the only loose loose situation where i dont loose! i know easier said then done....

keep ur head up friend .... ~*yalinda

 I like who you are too Yalinda!

 I don't know what to add to this, but when I was 17, 18 & 19 I was about 135 pounds? Oh, and when I was 12 & 13 I weighed geesh almost 150.  My pediatrician mortified me...I remember as a little girl and weighing more than a "normal" kid should.  THAT STUCK WITH ME!!!!!!!!!  I swear it did!  And Elcamino, you're in psych so you can vouch for this...how horrible right?  To feel absolutely worthless & to be made to feel so bad about yourself at 9 years old?  Shame on her Cookoo pediatrician.  Charts-Schmartz...stick your chart up your hoohah.

So I took up athletics.  Distance running mainly starting @ like 12 - 13 y/o.

I wanted to be Linda Hamilton in the "Terminator"!  Found a rolemodel that wasn't twiggy & who had 16inch guns!

        So I would shout my "I'm 150 pounds" with pride! Because I could bench press more  than the boys!

 

Ah, but when graduation from highschool came...didn't feel the same way. Wanted to be thin & lose weight. AND IT WASN'T HAPPENNING!

What I did was SHOCK my system.  

Went pretty much vegetarian (used tofu as protein) and strictly cardio, no more weight lifting.  And within a year 20 pounds came off.

No whole fat milk products, no packaged anything, dropped all sweets except frozen yogurt & ate like 6 times a day, and walked EVERYWHERE.

 

So sometimes a good "shock" so to speak to jump start the metabolism is needed but not always so easy to attain. Lord knows I wouldn't be able to do that now.  If I'm walkin' to the mailbox that's it.

I should walk into that old pediatrician's office now & drop my trousers! Shame on her...I'de give anything to have my Linda Hamilton biceps back. Funny thing is my 8 year old nephew weighs more than me now. And even at 100 pounds like now...I still can find things to say "ewww" about. Did the same at 90 pounds! Strange how women's issues like this is.

BUT...WE ALL ROCK!!!!!!  And you're loved for what you do for other's.

A healthy lifestyle will come...just don't give up.