SarahKeturah's Journal

143 Days of LDN

I went ahead and spent $144 on an enzyme supplement called Neprinol just now.

I had heard about it just a few days ago.......and it sounded too good to be true of course.  But with all the research I've done, it seemed legit as far as I could tell.  And it was the first I have seen that showed actual blood test results starting at one month and ending at 6 months.  It  appears as though it lowers your ESR and CRP.  I had been meaning to buy Bromelain and I already take Coenzyme Q10 (which is fairly expensive but not nearly as much as Neprinol).  And I decided since this enzyme blend contains both, that perhaps it was worth it.

Plus, Neprinol was written up in different magazines which added to my theory that it might be true.  I also figued, if I could put my faith in LDN, perhaps I could do the same with this, and continue on this journey of improving my immune system.  Since I can't try Minnocycline at the moment, or could possibly at somewhere near the same price, I figured, what was the harm in trying this?

I keep wondering, is it possible to fix our immune systems?  And until I try different routes, I will always wonder if I gave everything a good shot.  I also figured, even though the price is a bit rediculous, what is the price of our health?  What are we willing to pay?  I thought about Doug, who paid an astronomical amount for his Rituxan.  And I thought about the fact that I tried acupuncture one time at $50 and would have continued to try it had I found information on it that really seemed to show it helped RA.  Since it put me in a flare, I wasn't too sure I was willing to continue on with that experiment, and so I didn't.  And I thought about all the times my husband and I go out for sushi, which is very expensive, and the fact that I don't get my nails done, which is something most women do, especially here in Hollywood.  I thought about the cost of all the other supplements I take regularily,....Fish oil, grape seed extract, Glucosamine, etc. and how I've read here and there that Glucosamine is showing up as not actually helping RA, but yet I still take it.  And I thought, what is the chance that Neprinol is legit and will actually work?  If it does, perhaps I could quit the other supplements that are making me feel nauseous from taking so many anyway, and finally be on a path of improved living.

So that's where I'm at.  I'm at my new experiment.  As far as my symptoms of RA are concerned, they're not terribly bad.  In fact, I guess they're at a medium level.  I'm not in a flare, so that's good, but there are times where I feel I'm about to be in one, and possibly I stop it from happening by taking lots of vitamin c and being strict with my diet.  The main complaint I have is my wrists, which have never shown improvement except for the time I felt I was in remission.  I keep hoping they will improve, because not being able to really bend them sucks. I can live with my fingers for the most part at where they are, though there's a cyst on one of them that makes me feel like they're ugly.  I asked my doctor if she could remove it somehow and she said it would only come back, but maybe sometime we could do a cortisone shot.  I keep wondering how it is I can get my doctors to just do things that I want done, rather than feeling their resistance constantly.  My left arm continues to surprise me.  It has times where it becomes a tad more swollen, but for the most part, it is improving as time goes on and become less and less swollen and looking closer and closer like my right arm.  I still continue to have better eyes and skin that I had when I was orriginally diagnosed, or when I was on both prednisone and methotrexate.  My feet are bothering more these days however, and I've succomed to the most comfortable shoes possible for both everyday wear and working out.  It sure makes me miss my high heals though.  My shoulders are continually having ups and downs.  Sometimes they're fine and sometimes they bother me quite a bit.  Right now it's not too bad, but they do get on my nerves a little when I sleep.

My throat is a bit better today.  It was hurting on the left side for a while now.  I talked to my doctor and she wanted me to try Clariton because she thinks it's allergies.  I told her I thought it was my RA because I feel it's more of a tight throat sensation, rather than a rough patch type sensation.  yet she still wanted me to try Clariton to see if it made a difference.  So I didn't.  I didn't want to try one more drug, nor spend money on one more, since it's not a big enough deal to me yet.  Who wants to deal with the side effects that might occur with Clariton?  It's like these doctors don't get that taking more meds just means more side effects, for some people of course, not for all.

I had thought the Sulfasalazine was working for me, but then I started to get worse again.  I was taking it just temporarily towards the later half of my cycle as a risky experiment to see if it would help a lot.  I stopped it just two days ago and am back on my normal cycle of birth control pills.  No harm, no foul I suppose.  Along with that  blurry vision, and light headedness had come back with that drug.  Everytime I stood up, I felt like I would faint for a moment.  So again I've decided that drug isn't for me.  Now that I've stopped, the side effects are gone again.

And that's about it.  I like to update my RA status just so I can have an idea later of what has been working and what hasn't.

I've been extra tired these days because my sleeping has not been great.  Insomnia hasn't been a problem but my husband and I have been house sitting/dog sitting for the past four days.  The house is beautiful, with a pool and quite large.  And it's accross the street from my boss who we hang with frequently.  The only problem has been, the dogs are noisy and spoiled and one of them (he's small) sleeps on the bed with us.  Between their barking, scratching, and licking, their sleep hours are so different than ours that they keep us up or wake us up several times in the night.  I've been wearing ear plugs but those seem to bother my ears which makes me feel uncomfortable and then they usually fall out by the morning and I'm too tired to find them.  My husband gets up earlier than I do, and him getting up, no matter how quiet HE may be, the dogs go a little crazy.  So that, along with shoulder pain, has made my sleep less than adequate.  And usually not enough sleep not only makes me feel cranky but also a bit depressed sometimes.  I guess I don't feel depressed per se, but I do feel just a general lack of ambition and also lacking hope and happiness compared to my normal upbeat self.  I know this will soon be replenished and I look forward to my bed tonight in our own house. 

I hope everyone is doing great!