Autoimmune

Early last year, I went in to talk to my GP about my insomnia and hiccoughs. She ordered some blood tests. They came back mostly normal except my auto-antibodies were high. She asked if I had a cold when they were taken. Surprisingly for me, I did not. She had me get them tested again in a few months to monitor them. They were still high but she said they were only slightly high so it was up to me if I wanted to see a rheumatologist or keep monitoring for a while longer. Since it could be an autoimmune disease, I wanted to get in to see a rheumatologist and figure it out sooner rather than later. That was about a year ago and it took several more months until I finally got an appointment.

The rheumatologist looked at my previous blood work and had her own blood tests done. I definitely had an autoimmune disease. I asked last time and my ANA level is over 100 and inflammatory markers over twice what they should be. Her blood tests ruled out the "normal" autoimmune disease like Coeliac and lupus. Even my thyroid was normal, which was a cause for concern since my grandma had Hashimoto's disease when she was around my age.

We weren't sure what it was. I told her that I was starting to get pain in my back. She hasn't been able to find anything wrong by looking at my body. She had me go to the hospital to get a bone scan. That came back perfectly normal. She did start me on some anti-inflammatory medication late last year to help with some of the back pain I was experiencing.

It was great and I noticed a difference right away. But it was supposed to be temporary. I went to my GP to get my prescription renewed and a warning came up that it can cause internal bleeding. My father-in-law, who is a doctor, also said that it's not a good medication to be on long term.

With that in mind, I went to see her again about a month or so ago. She agreed that it isn't a great medicine but if you need it then you should take it. With her permission, I tried to go off of it. She said it starts and stops working quickly so it should be fine. I stopped taking the medication on Saturday. Within a couple of days I was in crippling pain. I couldn't move my hands or back. All I could do was lay there. I couldn't clean, I couldn't play video games, I couldn't even hold a book. I went back on my medicine on Wednesday. I knew that I DEFINITELY needed to be on it. (and thanking God for modern medicine!)

My hands got back to normal in about a week and my back sooner, but I'm deteriorating again. It used to mostly be my back, but now it's my hands and feet. I take baths with epsom salt to relieve some of the pain. Hold a hot mug of tea is also great. I also discovered last week at cake decorating classes that fondant is also great for hand pain. I bought some putty/play-doh stuff tonight in hopes that it'll help.

Last time I was at the rheumatologist, she also told me that she wants to do an ultrasound of my hands. Scheduling that has been hard, but hopefully I can get an appointment soon and we can make progress on figuring out what's wrong with me. I am also on the waiting list for an MRI of my back at the hospital. That's the only downside to universal healthcare. I have no idea how long it'll be until my MRI. In the meantime, I'll just have to keep trying my best to manage the pain.