Raynaud's or Get Out the Mittens a.k.a. Me As a Three-Legged Dog

So, I can feel the soreness seeping back into my body. I'm down to 5mg daily of Prednisone as of yesterday. My hands were somewhat stiff when I woke up this morning, and I'm aching more overall. Having said that, things aren't as bad as there were at the beginning, so that's good! I'll be interested to see how the Methotrexate and Enbrel are doing on their own when I drop the Prednisone completely next Thursday...

In the meantime, another interesting twist in the RA saga. I've developed what I'm pretty sure is Raynaud's syndrome or disease (haven't been diagnosed yet, so don't quote me!). Last night I went out for dinner with a friend. Before leaving I went to the washroom, washed my hands with cold water (no hot water on tap for some reason), then left. It was cold out, and my car was cold, but it didn't take that long to get home. Still, I was cold and left my gloves on till I got to my apartment, and when I took my gloves off, multiple fingers (not all) had that corpse-like look (in Raynaud's, small arteries in places like your fingers narrow, constricting blood flow).

I've had Raynaud's before (medication-induced by beta-blockers I was on for migraine prophylaxis), so I'm pretty sure that's what was going on, but I'm not happy about it. It's potentially dangerous, and I seriously don't need more crap on top of everything else, but what do you do? Deal, cause what else are you going to do?

I was telling my friend last night that I have a sort of mantra or theory or policy or whatever you want to call it (feeling a bit brain dead right now as it's the end of the week). It's my three-legged dog theory. A dog that loses a leg doesn't freak out about the fact that it's lost a leg – it doesn't know any better. It just starts hopping around on three legs. So that's what I'm trying to do really: hop around and not focus on what's been lost...

P.S. I should have taken a picture of my hands last night (or hand – hard to take a pic of two hands with an iPhone unless someone else is doing it!). Next time the Raynaud's thing happens, I will so anyone who doesn't know what it looks like can see!

P.P.S. Settling in to watch the Olympics. I am a total Olympics freak – once I start, I cannot stop! I will watch anything and everything. And I'm not even a sports nut! So sorry they had to start in such a sad way, though...

Prednisone Taper

So far, so good on the prednisone taper front.

I started taking 20mg of Prednisone on Jan. 5 of this year. Nothing else had been working well enough – not the systemic corticosteroid shot I received on Dec. 23, not the Voltaren (diclofenac), nothing. So my rheumatologist prescribed the Prednisone so I could function and work until we could get a diagnosis.

Now, I'm supposed to cut back 5mg a week, if I feel good, till I'm off it. I started to do that Thursday, since Wednesday was my first day of the Methotrexate and Enbrel combo.

So far, so good! I wasn't sure what to expect at all. Last night I felt a bit achy in places I haven't in a while, like my knees, and same this morning, but no stiffness in the mornings. I'm pretty pleased.

Just very tired. Slept like crap last night. Went to bed at 11, which is late for me, but got sucked into the blogosphere (again!), and then woke up at 4:30 this morning and couldn't fall back asleep again. Got up at 7, had breakfast, did the dishes, prepared and roasted some veggies for this weekend, then had a nap at 9 (!). Now I should really go out and get some groceries, but it's -14°C (-17°C with the windchill) and the comfy, cushy couch is looking more and more inviting once again!!!

Weekend Woes & Happiness

Ten little teeny tiny toes – not happy campers. OK, not all 10 of them, but the alliteration sounded good. Them and my hands and wrists, left knee and elbow, too. Toss in my left ankle...damn, that! My ankles have been the only joints not affected to date, and starting to feel one of them through the 20mg of Prednisone I'm on daily doesn't make me happy.

But, having said that, the weekend was pretty good. Being able to walk the Toronto Interior Design Show on Friday was great. Total bonus: for the first time since this started, on Friday evening my hands felt normal! I actually thought, Maybe this is going away. Course, Saturday the aching was back, but whatever...the brief reprieve was nice.

Then yesterday I went to the gym, biked for 10 minutes and did strength stuff using – get this! – 5 lb weights for bicep curls, triceps and shoulder presses. Woohoo! I'm feeling so much less weak than I have been. Later, it was out for dinner (Okinomi House – yum!) and a movie ("The Young Victoria" – very good + fab costumes) with a friend. A fantastic time was had by all!

My Pharmacist Has My Back

Got a call last night from my pharmacist.

Turns out she'd been away from work for a while and when she got back, she realized that I'd had a hold on my records for a folic acid prescription and that I'd recently been prescribed Methotrexate. She was concerned and wanted to make sure that I was taking over-the-counter folic acid.

I must seriously be one of the luckiest, most cared for people around lately! First, the Enbrel pre-authorization gets turned around in a single day, then this! This lovely lady is the same pharmacist who gave me her cell number a while back, just in case I needed to call. Who does that kind of thing anymore? Apparently, some people.

Yesterday was a really good day, all round. I headed down to the Toronto Interior Design Show in the afternoon with the Style at Home art girls. Wasn't sure how my feet would hold up, but they did pretty well. My legs felt shaky, but the carpeting on the concrete floors and my über-comfy but super-stylish Rockport boots kept my feet feeling good until the very end when they just felt sore, not painful. Later on last night, they did hurt, but not horribly so, and the Tylenol helped quell that. I thought of icing them, but, truth be told, I was just too damn lazy and tired to get off my comfy couch.

And speaking of my couch, I can't say enough about it. I've always lived on my couch come the evenings (haha!), and now more than ever. When RA hit, and the pain and stiffness was too bad (pre-Prednisone), my beloved couch was just too low and lying down wasn't an option – I wasn't sure I'd get back up again. Once I was feeling better, though, I had the idea of pumping up the seats. When I first bought the couch (it's a custom one), I'd ordered it with down seat cushions. They proved to be too soft (I was constantly fluffing them up), so then I'd ordered foam-core seats with down surrounds, and stored the down seats behind my living room draperies. I hauled out the down seats (damn, even feathers are heavy when your hands hurt!) and plopped them on top of the existing ones, making for a nice high perch. Perfect! Doesn't look pretty, but pretty ain't what I'm going for right now.

Medications + Supplements

Below is a list of the medications I'm currently on, along with supplements (some of which I was taking pre-RA saga).

Before the rheumatoid arthritis hit, I thought I already popped plenty of pills. Ha! That was a misconception!

I've been on prednisone just a short time now, but it's doing the trick that anti-inflammatories alone weren't doing. I'm starting to feel like I can move somewhat normally, although my hands and feet don't want to play along most days.

My rheumatologist wants me off the prednisone asap, though (me, too!), so as soon as I can get all the vaccines/TB tests/chest x-rays I need and get the insurance company go-ahead, major drug use is in the forecast.

Medications, Rheumatoid Arthritis
        Prednisone (20mg 1x/once daily)
        Voltaren (75mg/2x daily)
        Prevacid (30mg/1x daily)
        Tylenol Extra Strength (400mg/4x daily)

Medications, Migraines
        Topamax (75mg a.m. daily/50mg p.m. daily)
        Verapamil (40 mg/2x daily)
        Loestrin
        Imitrex (20mg nasal spray; as needed)

Supplements
        Vitamin D3 (1000UI/2x daily)
        Calcium (500mg/1x daily)
        Vitamin C (500mg/1x daily)
        Omega 3 Fish Oil (1000 mg/3x daily)
        Glucosamine (500mg/1x daily)
        Ginseng (55 mg/2x daily)
        Biotin (1000 mcg/1x daily)
        Multivitamin (1x daily)

Oh Lordy! Part 2

Dr. Brown's office calls on Friday – they've gotten me an appointment with a rheumatologist the following Wed. Dec. 23. Hallelujah! I'm thrilled! I thought it would take weeks to get in with a specialist.

A friend offers to take me, but I thought I'd drive (we're without an editor at the magazine, so I've got the parking spot at the moment, and it's a godsend at times because my feet feel like they've been beaten with a cane) and there's parking at the rheumatologist's, so at first I say, no.

The day before the appointment, though, I feel so crappy I call to tell her I'll take her up on her offer. It's a good thing I do. The rheumatologist is very nice, exams my joints, takes my history, reviews my bloodwork from Dr. Brown and tells me she thinks I have rheumatoid arthritis. I promptly burst into tears. Not surprising. That's the way I react when I'm in shock. Despite hours and hours now of searching the internet, and hoping that it's something else, everything I've been reading leads me to think the same thing.

Full of hope that's it's not a chronic thing, I ask if it could be a viral form of arthritis. She says possibly and that we'll do all kinds of bloodwork, including checking for that. She's also going to send me for x-rays to see if there's any indication of damage. Before I go she gives me a corticosteroid injection to help me out over the holidays; I choose that over Prednisone pills, since I don't want to get started on those if I don't have to. I'm also prescribed Voltaren (diclofenac) instead of the Apo-Naproxen EC I've been taking.

I leave and my friend kindly eats up her entire afternoon taking me first to the blood clinic, then the hospital for 21 – count 'em: 21!! – x-rays. She couldn't be nicer and more supportive and keeps me laughing the whole time. My crazy French friend!!