Living with Rheumatoid Athritis

One of the readers of the last post messaged me to let me know that only 25.5% of the content related to my arthritis while 26.9% related to music. Let's see if I can redress the balance a little in this post. I said at the beginning that I did not want to turn this into a"poor me" kind of blog but I have had a really bad day, so I thought that it would share it with you to give a kind of flavour of what arthritis can be like. Last night I woke up several times and was in pain every time. It seemed that almost every part of my body ached - not in a flu-like way as I had not temperature but in a muscular and joint sort of way. The worst parts were my knees and arms, my left arm in particular. Turning over in bed was agony and, because of my knees, going to the toilet was a nightmare and I had to hold on to lots of things in order to climb the few stairs that I needed to. Coming back down was even worse. When I eventually decided to get out of bed I had very little motivati...

It's a wonderful sunny morning in Aberdeen and I am inside typing this so let's see how quickly I can write, although Tia, one of our cats is doing her best to get me to put my laptop down. She reckons that the only use for laps is for her to sit on and get petted - well, she'll just have to wait! Recently I have been using a stick while walking. To be honest I don't always need it but it really increases my confidence - especially when going downhill and walking on rough ground. I thought I'd left it in a taxi the other day. I had a bit of a panic and phoned the taxi firm. They said to contact the police lost property office however before I did I found that it had just fallen down the side of my chair! Panic over. Painwise everything is pretty much the same. My shoulders, knees, wrists and fingers still hurt. Apparently the  Sulfasalazine can take around three months to kick in and I am not yet on a full dose.  I am also taking Omega 3 capsules - as recommended by...

I had an appointment with the rheumatologist on the fourth of September. She was absolutely brilliant and very thorough. The upshot is that not only do I have rheumatoid arthritis but I also have osteoarthritis - mainly in my knees. Obviously this is a bit of a blow but just something that I am going to have to deal with. As a result my medication has been increased. I am still taking the same dose of Methotrexate (she didn't want to increase it because of my lung function) but my Folic Acid increased to daily. I will also be taking a daily dose of Sulfasalazine. I confessed that, at times, I have been taking the painkillers that Marian has for her back and she has also prescribed them as they are proven to work for a while. A side note. Just as I was about to publish this I received a phone call from the pharmacist at my GP's surgery about the new medication. She wanted to check that I was happy with everything and told me that I should get the prescription this week. I am imp...