I'm Fine...Really!

It has been a long time since the last blog session.  That is always a good sign for me.  When I feel good I'm busy out living life to its fullest but as soon as frustration or flares creep in... I'm back.  I'm actually coming off one of my best winters ever since having this disease...minimal flares,no steroid shots and no pneumonia like last year!  I thank my gluten free diet, juicer, Vitamix and change up in exercise for this wonderful year.  I am actually doing cross-fit classes at GPP.  Check out their website GPP Fitness  There have been many, MANY workouts I have finished and cried the whole way home because my body is doing things I was told I would probably never do again. I LOVE IT! I am gaining my confidence back and getting strong! I was feeling all good about myself when a few months ago my rheumatologist decided to check my hands with some xrays.  My xrays came back showing further damage occurring in my hands. Bummer! I was so surprised and have been on a mission ever since to try to convince my doctor that I'm fine and feel great!  She decided to draw some blood and run a fairly new test called the Vectra DA that would show us how active my disease is in my body.  It came back moderate to severe...WHAT THE?  I'm so confused.

So here I stand at a crossroads once again. Dr. Dames would like me to start on Enbrel right away and keep taking all of my other meds too.  Enbrel doubles the size of my ever growing list of possible side effects and I hate that!  I posed the argument to her that I am too young to take that chance of so many possible side effects because sooner or later I will get one of them...why not just live with RA and all the fun stuff that comes with that alone?  She argues back that because I am young I need to be proactive and do everything I can to avoid disfigured joints and disability. Awesome...one of those no win Jack Bauer 24 decisions huh?

Side note.  I argued with my rheumatologist!  That is a little victory in and of itself.  I actually stood up for what I was feeling and expressed frustration.  I've always just gone with what the doc says and vented to my husband and mom when I returned home.  I'm pretty darn pleased with myself. This is big people.

Back to my dilemma...I have 3 months and then I will retake the Vectra DA test.  My rheumatologist has increased my sulfasalizine dose to twice a day to see if that will help.  If results come back again in the high to moderate range I need to seriously consider getting on Enbrel.  If I was sore and hurting I would be all over this but I'm not.  I'm fine and actually feeling great: no morning stiffness whatsoever and full range of motion in all of my joints.  When big storms come in I do feel it in my shoulders...I hate those subtle reminders that yes I am sick and have a chronic disease that won't go away. Not to mention every Tuesday I get a reminder in the form of nausea from my methotrexate injection.  That stuff still makes me so sick.  I swear my body is trying to tell me "this stuff is bad...please don't put this in me!"

Plan of action: There is a man who lives by me who is controlling his RA by diet and herbs alone.  He swears by this tea concoction that he found and is convinced that first I must heal my gut lining and then this tea will eliminate all of the harmful inflammation in my body.  Heck what do I have to lose?  I'm pretty curious and excited to give it a go.  As I read through all of this info he has given me I will share this new part of my journey.  November 2013 marked my 10 year mark with this disease. My RA truly has been a journey...a journey of physical, spiritual and mental health, a journey of self discovery and reflection and a journey of appreciation and gratitude for the beautiful things in my life. I am happy and content with where I am in life...If only my body would get the memo that I am FINE!

I'm Baaack!

Seriously...December 2011?  Geesh, where has the time gone? I have really missed my blogging and am recommitting myself. Let's catch up...2012 brought on tough business and financial changes for our family.  My husband sold a company and switched jobs.  I started running a little side business called Apericots in our basement which has been fun but BUSY!  After 12 years of focusing only on raising my kids I have loved something to call my own. There is something about receiving that paycheck with my name on it that has been so rewarding! Don't get me wrong...being a mother has its paydays...they are just spaced a little further apart and come very sporadically...but oh so worth it!  Adding a work schedule into my busy life of gymnastics, piano, soccer, dance, preschool, field trips, carpooling, homework, church calling, playgroups,etc has had its challenges. It has been a challenge to stay balanced. Unbalanced life in the past has usually led me into a flare up of my RA in one way or another.  I was pleasantly surprised that I kept it together for so long.  Exercising became a priority.  I always feel better when I exercise.  I was actually back to working out hard...I found a cross fit class that kicked my butt 2 days a week and I was putting on muscle.  Yoga has become a staple on my stressed out days...LOVE IT!  Overall I had a busy, wonderful 2012 and was actually cutting down on my Methotrexate and had also switched to the oral pill vs the injection.  The injections still make me so nauseous the day after my shot but the pill form not so much.  Then I got pneumonia in October and totally went downhill.  I had two courses of heavy antibiotics which left me with yeast infections to cope with for months...yuck! Note: Never take antibiotics without a pro-biotic of some sorts!

 My ribs hurt for months after from all of the coughing and I just could never get going again.  Then I started having problems with my shoulders and wrists and wallah I was back on my MTX injection again going up in dosage...not down.  BUMMER!  My Dr. thinks that I don't absorb the pill form of MTX as well which led to the flare up and so I'm really on a mission to increase my absorption in my gut.  I've been studying topics like Leaky Gut Syndrome, Gluten Free Diets, and Juicing.  I've always had stomach issues since I was a baby.  Some doctors have called it gastritis, leaky gut, irritable bowel, etc. I'm still unsure what is up with my gut but am CONVINCED it is linked so closely with my autoimmune problems.  My husband read the book Wheat Belly and has encouraged me to go gluten free to see if it helps heal my insides. 

I started eating gluten free as of January 1, 2013 with only minimal slipups :/  It hasn't been too bad but I have not noticed anything drastically yet.  What I have learned about my diet is how carb heavy my diet was.  I realized that I always turned to crackers, granola bars, chips, pretzels, toast, etc for my snacks vs veggies, fruits, proteins or nuts.  That has been eyeopening! The thing that has helped me the most is juicing.  Every morning the first thing I give my body is a nice kale, cucumber, spinach, apple, beet, carrot, ginger, and celery juice from my Jack LaLanne juicer...Delicious right?  Believe me, your body gets used to it and you will see results quickly.  I'm a believer. I watched a documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix and it was crazy!  These two guys were really overweight and had urticaria, an autoimmune disease.  Surprisingly they were on my exact meds and were off all of them with no flare ups by the end. So this is where I am at currently: juicing, gluten free, trying to exercise and get back to my cross fit class soon...still researching...still medicating...still sore but hopeful.  My RA has truly been a journey.  Every little discovery about my self, every high point/low point, every person I meet with this disease, every book I read, every yoga class, etc is leading up to something right? I believe so!