Too Much Information
Well I was pretty down on Tuesday, having a bit of a pity party, have to go on a crappy drug for 3 weeks. I don’t know why I’m such a baby. It’s 3 weeks. I remember when I had to stay at the hospital the night before Maya was born, I felt so sorry for myself that I cried. Of course, there were hormones involved, but I’m not sure my reaction now would be any different without them. I just hate taking drugs and staying in hospitals and all of that. Antibiotics don’t bother me, I’m used to them. Birth control pills are fine. Allergy pills, OK. But when we get more serious, I get wiggy.
So I was feeling sorry for myself, going on a crummy drug, but only a low dose, and only for 3 weeks. Took my first dose Wednesday morning, and within 18 hours, I was starting to feel improvement. I woke up in the middle of the night to turn over, and god almighty, it didn’t hurt. Well, maybe it hurt a tiny bit, but not shooting pain from my foot or wrists or hands. That was a relief. Thursday I had a ton of energy, and felt SO much better. Everything that had been hurting, still hurt, but dialed down to a much more bearable level.
Now it’s late on Friday, and no real change from yesterday. The pain is greatly diminished. I’m glad for the drug. Side effects, if they occur on such a low dose/short term, are reversible. So now I’m moving on to thinking of natural remedies that might keep me from pain going forward. One thing is, it’s kind of overwhelming. So many people have come to me with arthritis remedies or other solutions that have worked for them. I think the path to what works for me could be a long one, and I’m wondering how well they will show if I’m already on the long term meds. I’ll need to talk to my doctor about it, I guess.
What I’ve heard is that different solutions work for different people. What I have to figure out is if any of them work for me, assuming this crap even comes back (which I hope it doesn’t). So far I’ve heard:
- Raw Apple Cider Vinegar & Raw Honey. I’ve been trying this, but as my inflammation has been so bad, I take it with my Aleve, so I don’t know what’s working and what doesn’t.
- Tart cherry juice. This one is good for gout, and when I was worried that was my condition, I was drinking that. Also taking Aleve or Ipuprofin, so I don’t know if it worked or not.
What I do know about these two remedies is that if they were helping to relieve pain at all, they weren’t working to prevent the inflammation that kept coming. One test for inflammation says normal results were 0 to 15 units of whatever. Mine was 600.
- I’ve since heard of turmeric making a huge difference for some people, and worked well for my step mom. Though my MIL’s mother ate curry every day and still suffered from arthritis.
- Ginger. Some people drink ginger tea, others eat dried ginger. Both work for some people.
Then there are the elimination diets.
- One friend says that gluten made a huge difference for her. She felt better within 2 days of giving it up, and suffers for it if she so much as eats a muffin.
- One relative went through different options, like gluten and dairy, before hitting on red meat. Giving up red meat worked for him and brought his arthritis under control.
- There’s the anti-inflammatory diet, which includes some vitamins and supplements, but mainly focuses on eating a lot of variety of vegetables and fruit, and limiting the processed food in your diet.
- One friend has issues with her endocrine system, which ended up having to do with her body’s ability to absorb potassium. This presented itself as severe arthritis and had her in a wheelchair for awhile.
What to do? Well, eating healthfully I mostly already do, though I’ve been known to go solo on the sharing size bag of Kettle Chips from time to time. But most of our food is whole, made in our kitchen, with the best ingredients we can afford. Beyond that, I don’t know. I think I’d prefer to go for vinegar & honey, turmeric, and maybe cherry juice as a first step. I’d rather not worry about gluten and dairy yet. I love gluten. I love dairy. They’re my two favorite food groups. If I had to give them up, of course I would. But it would suck. Mostly I feel overwhelmed by it all, and I don’t want to go through a ton of tests if I don’t have to (my insurance sucks when it’s needed, though it’s fine once I’ve paid the $5k deductible). It feels like too much information sometimes. All coming from caring friends who want to help, and have first hand experience with what they’re using. I’ll be glad when all of this is over, I think. Still hoping that it will be like so many weird things, and once it’s treated, it will simply go away and leave me alone.
14 Comments
Joan
In 2012, I developed 3 different conditions which were causing me havoc. On the surface they seemed unrelated but I wonder. Anyway, I got depressed, grieved for my former healthy self, upset I had to take prescribed medicine & was very impatient to get ” healed”. Eventually I went from 3 different prescriptions to 1 prescribed, 1 OTC & 1 natural remedy. I still have some issues though not as bad and certainly I’m more fortunate than a lot of people. I understand how you feel. Try to be patient – easier said than done. Best wishes.
J
Joan, are you still able to run? I know that gave you a lot of joy. Patience is difficult at this point, but being in less pain as the days pass is helping.
Simone
Arthritis is awful, my great aunt who lived in scotland and then england had it quite severly, the only time she got some relief was when she went on holiday to a hot country, whether it was the vitamin D or the feel good factor of being on holiday i’m not sure. I’m sure you have plenty of sunshine where you are 🙂 could it be stress?
J
In my case, I don’t think it’s stress or sunshine. I live in CA, and our normal state is sunshine, and I get a lot of vitamin D by going outside. I’ve recently added more via supplement. My step mom, who got relief from turmeric, also got relief by going to a hot lovely country on vacation. Perhaps it was the sunshine and relaxation of vacation rather than the turmeric that helped her. I say not stress, because though it started prior to my sabbatical, I wasn’t feeling stressed, nothing had changed, and it ramped up mightily when I was on sabbatical, getting some exercise and sleep and fun in pretty much every day.
Ted
I say let the drugs do the work for three weeks and then follow up with the doctor to see what’s what. It’s only been a few days since you’ve been on this stuff, so you gotta let it work on your system. And since it’s such a low dose, it’s going to take time. They’ll most likely want to re-test you to see if those numbers come down into the the normal range.
Science! 🙂
J
Yeah, I’m leaning this way, too. I don’t mind the cherry juice or the vinegar and honey, so maybe I’ll stick with these for now. I don’t know. I do know I enjoy feeling better, being able to put my shoes on, that kind of thing.
Gina
I remember when I was told that I would have to take my thyroid replacement pills for the rest of my life, and I cried. Sometimes we just feel like our bodies have let us down and now we have to go through ALL OF THIS, and why can’t we be healthy like “everyone else…” At least that’s how it was for me in my early days of dealing with my diagnosis.
I learned to be grateful that I had so quickly gotten a diagnosis and had easy access to my cure. Now I don’t even think twice about taking my pills first thing in the morning, nor the hour I have to wait to eat my breakfast. When the meds are working well, I feel fantastic, so well worth the trade off.
Health problems are so tough to deal with as they affect our minds almost as much as our bodies! I wish you luck in finding what works best for you!
J
Gina, I kind of feel like that…like this is messing with my mind as much as my body. Not true, because my body was certainly suffering quite a bit. But those first days of deciding about the medication, those sucked. I’m moving towards being grateful for the medication I’ve gotten, the drugs that are helping me a bit more every day.
Funny, you have to take your meds on an empty stomach, which is often not convenient when one is trying to get the kids out of the door and go to work. I have to take mine with food, which I often don’t want first thing in the morning, and since I work from home, I’m used to being able to wait awhile if I want to. But the pain means I want to take the pills, and thus must eat sooner rather than later. I’ll be glad when I’m past that point, and don’t have to worry about such inconsequential things.
Nance
Information overload/too much choice leads to frustration. It’s like being in a really good restaurant and sitting down with their menu. What to have? It all sounds good, but if you choose the filet, you will miss the seafood, and vice versa.
Probably the smartest thing to do would be to cut out everything for the time being but what the doctor ordered, the steroid course. That way, you’re down to a control. You knew what you felt like without it and then what you felt like with it. Once that’s over and out of your system, add one thing and one thing only for maybe three weeks to a month in order to give it a therapeutic chance. If it isn’t helping, stop that and try the next thing. If nothing alone works, add a second therapy to the last one you try, and go from there. Maybe?
I’m glad you’re getting some relief. I know what you mean about the cost factor. My deductible is ridiculous as well, and it really makes me (unwisely at times) just say screw going to the doctor; I’ll just tough it out. How sad that we are made to make these choices and decisions this way.
J
Nance, you’re very scientific, and that does sound sensible. Perhaps I will try cutting out my secondary treatments, as both you and Ted suggest, until I’m finished with the steroids. Sigh.
Regarding the money, yeah, it sucks. I resent having to make it a consideration in my decisions about whether to get tests taken, etc. I’ve always had insurance that paid for such things before, never had to worry about it. Except when I was a kid, and we didn’t have insurance at all, so we just never went to the doctor, dentist, whatever. That was the worst.
Cherry
I totally just finished off a bag of Kettle Chips while I read this. 🙂
Hugs my friend. Just lots of hugs from me.
Ally Bean
I’m glad that the meds are offering you some relief. I have no suggestions to add to the list, but will keep you in my thoughts. Sending healing energy your way. Hang in there.
Rain Trueax
If it turns out gluten and dairy are a problem to you (and maybe they aren’t), you don’t give up baking or cheese, you switch to sheep or goat cheese and other kinds of flours. There are pastas that are gluten free and more and more offered all the time. It takes thinking but it is not going without– it’s shifting to other products and finding what you like. I make white sauces still but just use other flour and rice or coconut milk. I won’t say it all tastes exactly like wheat flour but in some cases, it’s not a lot different. So for those of us who can’t take gluten, it’s not a bleak world of food– just takes thinking. I find after a year of this that I can also cheat once in awhile and splurge with no consequences. I just can’t do it regularly. My dil though pays more of a price when she cheats even once. It’s all finding the balance. I just found a cookbook at Costco, the How Can It Be Gluten Free recipe book with a lot of recipes and interesting looking meals. The internet is full of recipes also. So if it’s not, that’s great, but if it is, you won’t have to really give up much– just change what is in it and sometimes develop a taste for something a little different.
J
Rain, I’ve noticed more and more products out there that are gluten free. I’m glad to hear it doesn’t mean totally giving up bread and cheese! I do love goat cheese. 🙂