SarahKeturah's Journal

172 Days of LDN

20 Days of Neprinol

Since yesterday my fingers and wrists have been more tight.  I wondered if it had to do with falling off the wagon yesterday and eating some wheat crackers.  It seemed to happen almost immediately, like 20 minutes after eating them that I noticed my fingers tightening up.  RA is so wierd.

I haven't been exercising these days.  The desire is there.  I'd like to work out in the mornings.  Every morning, the alarm goes off and I talk myself out of it.  And every night, I decide not to work out because it will just amp me up.  Obviously, I still have yet to come up with a solution.  If anyone has any ideas, let me know.  Mornings would be great, but pain and stiffness is at my worst upon wakening.

Politics:  This has been an interesting year for me.  For one, I was never educated in politics.  I was quite uneducated in most areas besides art, psychology, and medical stuff.  I would frequently shy away from conversations, or if one started, I would focus on what I would say in response or what I wouldn't say so that no one knew what I didn't know.

This year however has been different.  Although my husband is one of the smartest people I know, his talking style as well as information  was always above my head.  I kept hoping things would eventually soak in, but it was like I didn't have the building blocks to get there.

Luckily someone introduced me to a radio station.  I was becoming more interested in at least wanting to know about politics, but the radio station changed things for me.  It helped create those building blocks.  And politics, much to my surprise were constantly changing.  They were changing so much in fact that I realized, jumping in late in the game was ok.  I was still able to learn a lot about the past, catch up about the present, and talk about our future.  So, being that this year is a big political year for both parties, it's been great to finally be part of all of the conversation.  And I realized as well, this is somthing that I now feel pasionate about.  How did I ever skip over this?  Now I am reading more, learning more, listening more, speaking more, and realizing that the world does need my input, or maybe more validly put, I need to give the world my input.

I have confidence that Obama is going to win this race............and I also have confidence because not only what he has said, or the inspiration he has given people, but my intuition about him.......that he is genuinly a good person, that Biden is genuinly a good person, and the two of them, both supremely intelligent people can take on our very corrupt system and make a change for the better.  We HAVE had good presidents in the past.  We have had presidents who inspired our country and changed things for the better.  It's when we loose hope and forget that we're part of a system..........a system that is dependent on intelligent decisions, on a world with a balanced eco system, and on health standards that make this country unique and a better place to live in, that world gets crazy.  We can't be ruled by people who use Fear to control us.  I have  never been ruled by fear.

I know I just threw out a tangent. 

Anyway, when is this Neprinol going to work?  It's taking too long!  I'm not doing bad at all.  I'm doing quite well.  Perhaps it's working but so slight it doesn't feel like much.

I noticed today that I said good morning to several people.  I had a bounce in my step and a smile on my face.  Either it was the Neprinol, or Sarah Palin's horrible speach, proving that she's an idiot.  Either way, the world didn't feel so daunting today.

I hope everyone is doing great! 

165 Days of LDN

13 Days of Neprinol

Still waiting for a miracle.  But slow progression is hard to notice.  My title.  I say such a thing because I continually find errors in either my doctor's thought process or info.

I was looking up Yaz birth control again.  I was given two trial packs.  Right now I don't have insurance, so it's in a sense worth $100. But since I don't want to take it, it's really worth nothing. I just called the office to see if they had any sample packs of the kind I currently take and she said no.  I scheduled an appt. for Planned Parenthood as they give free bc if you fit their criteria, but I just found out after calling that the cut off for income is around 1700.  Of course, I know they take rent, etc. into consideration so perhaps I could fudge some things, but I'm unsure if it's worth the 7:50 a.m. Fri Appt.

Oh, about Yaz, research, and idiot doctors.  So again, I looked up Yaz information to figure out whether I should just try it.  I had looked it up previously and ruled it out, but since I couldn't remember exactly why besides people online saying it gave them problems, I looked it up again to try and convince myself one month wouldn't hurt.

Or perhaps it would hurt....a lot.  On the web page it states, "The progestin in YAZ actually blocks the male sex hormones (androgens) that cause acne.2".   Yaz comapny of course thinks this is a good thing.  But, I thought, why would I want a medicine to block something I produce naturally?  Given my suspicion that low androgens could actually make your RA worse, from previous DEAH research, I looked it up and found fairly conclusive info that this could in fact be possible.

"It is well established that androgen concentrations are low in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).1 There are three possibilities: (1) Low androgen values are a consequence of RA. (2) Low androgen values are a consequence of its treatment. (3) Low androgen values are a partial cause of RA."  I found these specifics on http://ard.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/56/9/566.   ARD stands for Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.  

So here in lies my conclusion that doctors don't ever really read about the products they push.  Well, they may read a little but I highly doubt my GYN is aware that Yaz blocks androgens.  And I certenly know that my GYN has no interest in learning how androgens affect Rheumatic Diseases.  Oh well, I guess I expect too much.

In a perfect world, I wish all my doctors sat in a circle and discussed what they knew of their patient.

For instance, my dermatologist would state that I have granuloma annulare, and my Rheumatologist would question how that affects my RA.

Speaking of granuloma annulare...........    I have these two large plaques as they call them on my shins (one on each) and they're parallel to each other.  I got them when I was around 20 and they have grown over time.  Of course my Dermatologist says they're scar tissue, but I think they may still be growing.  Although I asked him to do a biopsy and he said it wasn't needed, I think I will make another appointment (when I have insuarance) and insist.  Two reasons.......plaques can change and are more prone to skin cancer and because from what I've read, a biopsy could help the good skin grow back, or if nothing else perhaps prevent it from its continual growth.   And two, because I really think the granular annuloma is actually Necrobiosis lipoidica because it describes exactly what I have.

Anyway, I'm actually finishing up this journal that I started yesterday.  Sometimes it's hard to find the time at work to write in my journal.

Hopefully I'll post something better tomorrow, as I have to go now.

I hope everyone is doing well!