Thankful

Thank you Jesus for this many pain free days!  Last week, I ran 4km on the thread mill. My first run since 1 Dec 2013, the half marathon. I had been battling a bit of a flare up since then, but these last couple of weeks have been pain free.  And free of medications and treatments.  

I thought I had forgotten how it felt to be a normal person. But now I am experiencing what it is like and I am grateful.  Thank you Jesus!

P is really for Pain!

I was testing out a theory with my last "p is for pain" entry, and I think it is absolutely proven.  First day today and sudden intense pain came upon me.  Hmmm... I wonder if the coming of my p has anything to do with my immune system? 

Crazy Day - Off sulphasalazine (8 jan)

I'm having the craziest day today.  The past few mornings, I'd been getting woken up by the pain.  The pain is not as bad as the previous times where I get woken at 4-5am but it is still very frustrating.  In the past, a nice hot shower would take away a percentage of the pain but these couple of days, a hot shower soothes me momentarily during the shower, but the pain is the same after.

I was feeling down and frustrated as I made my way into work today.  It took me a longer time to walk to the office from the train station due to the stiffness and pain.  In the office, I was anti-social and moody.  A colleague who is aware of my condition asks me how I was feeling today.  I told her - I'm in pain but I must remain positive!  However, tears of frustration came to my eyes as I answered her while trying to be upbeat and positive!  

A couple of hours into work, another colleague decided to throw a tantrum at me.  He had come to me consultatively and as I tried to understand the root of his query, he burst out at me in frustration and stomped off.  

That whole episode was a trigger for my tears! My tears got unleashed and I hid in a toilet cubicle for 10mins while I tried to keep my tears in check and get back to normal.  Somehow, I just couldn't. I think my emotional limit was breached by my frustration with the pain today and my tears just kept coming.

So I left the office early for my doctor's appointment.  At the doc's, I learnt that my inflammation markers have reduced. However, it was inconclusive whether it was due to Arcoxia or Sulfasalazine, as I was on both drugs when I took the blood test.  I posed several questions to the doctor regarding the side effects of sulfasalazine, as I had been experiencing a throat inflammation for over a month now (yes, it's still there!) and dry mouth.  Somehow, doctor seemed defensive of the treatment he had put me on and insisted that these side effects had nothing to do with sulfasalazine.  I then had questions about stopping the drug, what the repercussions are (if any) and if I chose to continue at a later stage, is it possible?  Without clearly explaining, doc says it's okay if I wanted to.  I had shared with him that I wanted to explore natural methods such as diet. He seemed to scoff at me, saying all other methods will never ever work and all his patients who had tried came back to him years later and still went on his recommended treatments.  His recommended treatment for me was anti TNF injections and it could be over a course of 2-3 years, with (according to studies) 90% chance of working.

That led me to question about the effectiveness of sulfasalazine.  If there's such positive statistics on anti TNF injections, I wonder what the stats of sulfasalazine!  Interestingly, there is zero success with spine problems based on clinical trials.  Doctor said he had seen some success with his patients, but he put success rate at 50%.  In reality, we are testing this drug out on me, without proof that it actually works.

I've decided to stop medicating and try more natural methods and TCM (acupuncture).  Have a blood test scheduled in 8 weeks time.  2 months should be enough to see any potential effects of TCM or diet... I hope.

One-sided throat pain

This pain in my throat has been on-going for a whole month now. The antibiotics had not helped at all.  I think I have low grade fevers too. Am not sure what's the problem and have called up my specialist.  Apparently he is busy and can only return my call on Thursday.  

I've done some google searches on the side effects of sulfasalazine, which I take a dose of 3000mg a day.  One of the websites www.arthritisresearchuk.org has a brochure on sulfasalazine, and it is indicated that I should tell my doctor immediately if I experience any of the following while on this medication:

- a sore throat

- a fever

- any other symptom of infection 

- unexplained bruising

Right now I'm still in the dark about wht could be the issue, but I'm really looking forward to the call from my doctor.  Hopefully, he has an answer for me.

P is for Pain?

That time of the month and the pain in my upper back accompanies it.  My neck is a little stiff too.  And I've been down with throat inflammation for 2 weeks now.  Saw the GP yesterday, who thinks that my auto-immune condition impacts my immunity too.  My throat inflammation is caused by a bacterial infection that my body seems incapable of fighting and getting rid off.  So I'm on a 7 day course of antibiotics.  Let's see if that works.

Shopping

I went shopping yesterday. Walked around for hours, bought lots of stuff and carried heavy bags around. 

Woke up with intense stiffness and pain.

I think that's the trigger? Carrying heavy stuff.

Also, I've been having a painful inflamed throat for 2 weeks, with no accompanying symptoms of cold, cough, flu. Wonder if it could be something? Hmm...

Off Arcoxia

Today is my third day off Arcoxia.

"ARCOXIA belongs to a group of medicines called Coxibs. It works in a similar way to traditional anti-inflammatory medicines, known as Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), by blocking the production of substances that cause pain and inflammation."

Source: http://www.news-medical.net/drugs/Arcoxia.

aspx

The aches and pains came back slowly throughout the day. If I had to describe it, it is almost like a flower of pain blooming and blossoming from the middle of my back and slowly spreading out to the outer parts of my back.

I didn't realize how bad it was till I was in Yoga Therapy class this evening and the happy baby pose reduced me to tears from pain.

Can't decide if I should get back on it, since I did some research online and discovered this drug isn't even approved for use in the US.

"Note: Arcoxia has not been approved by the FDA for the U.S. market. The manufacturer of Arcoxia received a non-approvalable letter from the FDA in April of 2007. This non-approvable letter was due to safety concerns of an increased risk of cardiovascular events (including heart attack and stroke) and questions on the benefit-risk ratio in patients taking Arcoxia. Merck will continue to market Arcoxia outside the United States."

Source: http://www.drugs.com/arcoxia.html

On the bright side, I hadn't been watching my diet since I was pain-free on Arcoxia.  This pain gives me the discipline to make a real lifestyle change.