The next steps

I went to my rheumatologist today with Rohan. I told her that I've been feeling great, but she seems to think that maybe it's just the flare has gone away, as the medications are still in my system, since they take a few months to be fully gone. I understand why she thinks that, but, at the same time, I feel better than I have in years. It just seems too unlikely that my flare, which lasted 3+ years, got better at the exact same time as I went off my medications.

But, she wants me to go back on two of my medications. She said that if my pain does flare up again, there's nothing that she can do, as far as prescribing different medications, unless I'm on the highest doses of my medications. She wants me to go back on sulfasalazine and methotrexate. I'm a bit irritated with the methotrexate because I will eventually need to be off it if I want to have children, but she said it's better to be on it now so we can try to experiment with changing things up than if I were pregnant and trying to figure out my pain management. She also said to only go back on the meloxicam if my back pain does flare up. That one has a shorter time between starting to take it and it working.

However, before I resume the sulfasalazine and methotrexate, she wants me to get some testing done. I told her that since stopping the medication, I've been experiencing digestive problems. She thinks that there's a possibility that I have Crohn's Disease. At first, she wanted me to get a colonoscopy, but then she said that I can do a stool sample first and that will tell me if I need to get a colonoscopy to confirm if it is Crohn's Disease. I need to do it before resuming the medications because it might go away when I go back on the medications, assuming it is related. I also need to keep getting my blood tests, but I want one to be when I'm off the medications to see if that makes a difference in the auto-anti-body counts.

So, all up, I think it is good news. I don't think I did qualify for the medications based on my MRI, but the MRI has shown inflammation and damage on the sacroiliac joint on my left side and the joints that are at the sides of your hip. But, thanks to going off the medication, I actually feel like we have an idea moving forward. I found out that I was feeling fine, with the exception of digestive pain. Now, it's basically back to the waiting game, but at least I feel like we're waiting on something that might make a diagnosis clearer and not for her to repeatedly tell me the same thing.


UPDATE: I resumed my medications on the evening of 10 March.