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selenaySo yesterday was my trip the rheumatologist.
As regular readers may be aware, my back has been in a very bad flare for nearly four weeks now. It's been getting steadily worse and on Monday I was pretty much at the despairing stage. It's incredibly difficult to concentrate on important work stuff when you're feeling that way so on Tuesday I started doubling my usual dose of Arcoxia (strong anti-inflammatory) from the usual 60mg per day to 120mg. I am now on the maximum dose of the strongest AI they could prescribe me.
Didn't touch it.
So by Thursday I was understandably not feeling my best.
Dr S. was running late so I had half an hour in the fabulously uncomfortable waiting room chair before I saw him. We had the usual "How are you doing?" conversation and I reported that my back was really quite uncomfortable. He read the letter from Prof G. and agreed to send me for physio at the hospital. It's better than the limited stuff that the physios as my local surgery can do, but still not specialist stuff. However, it's better than nothing and Dr S. recommended that I show them my letter from Prof G. when I see them so that they can start reading up on how to treat me. I'll even give them a copy if they really want :-)
He was about to turf me out when I reminded him that my back hurts really quite a lot. He asked where so I described and showed the location and he began checking it.
That's where the screaming comes in.
I'm hypermobile. This means that my joints can really flex an awful lot. Usually my back is incredibly flexible. Less so than it used to be due to twenty months of constant pain, but still pretty damn flexible. The first step was asking me to bend backwards as far as I could.
Er, I hardly got back at all before I went "Urf" quite quietly, which was better than the screaming I really wanted to do. Yes, it hurt. Grrr.
Then I had to straighten up. Um, ow. There was whimpering. And deep breaths. And, according to Mum, a very peculiar expression that is apparently my "Bloody hell that hurts but if I open my mouth I'll yell so yeah" expression. Now I know why my colleagues look so odd when I'm having a particularly bad twinge.
I am definitely not repeating that experience.
I then bent forwards and put my hands flat on the floor with no problem, as usual, and tilted sideways in both directions just as far as normal.
Dr S. looked very odd when I turned around and sent me off for an X-ray pronto.
This was uncomfortable, but not to flexing my back proportions and they gave me a gown that closed at the back, which made me very happy.
Then it was back to Dr S. where I waited. And waited. Mum had to leave for a church thing and I waited some more.
Finally, Dr S. called me in and looked at the X-ray. All the bones are where they should be, no massive gaping holes where discs should be and just some inflammation around my lumbar fascias.
All that pain for so little visible result? This is my body all over.
He does at least believe that there is pain and says it will eventually get better. When I'm older and stiffer. In the meantime, because I'm not sleeping, he's prescribed me a low dose of amitriptyline to hopefully act as a sedative and muscle relaxant (so I can finally have some sleep). It's apparently quite good for nerve pain in those doses, according to my lovely pharmacist. I see him again in three months "Because we should probably keep an eye on you."
I'd booked an appointment with my GP today in case Dr S. couldn't sort me out, so I decided to go to that anyway to update him on what's happening and check the ami-whatsit isn't one of the drugs my body doesn't like. We had a nice little chat, I confessed that sometimes I feel like I'm crazy to have so much pain for apparently no reason, and he was lovely and reassuring about it all.
Both my doctors seem delighted (and a little surprised) that I intend to continue working despite all of this. Go me.
If the ami-stuff doesn't work, Dr M. the GP told me to give him a call in a week or so and we'll review it and see what else we can try. He's a lovely, understanding man.
Thus ends this week's instalment of "Sel and her wonky body". Taking the first dose of the new stuff tonight and with any luck I'll still be able to function tomorrow. I thought it was best not to experiment on a work night!
Hopefully the next instalment will be my hip MRI where I'm now praying that something will show up to prove my sanity.
As regular readers may be aware, my back has been in a very bad flare for nearly four weeks now. It's been getting steadily worse and on Monday I was pretty much at the despairing stage. It's incredibly difficult to concentrate on important work stuff when you're feeling that way so on Tuesday I started doubling my usual dose of Arcoxia (strong anti-inflammatory) from the usual 60mg per day to 120mg. I am now on the maximum dose of the strongest AI they could prescribe me.
Didn't touch it.
So by Thursday I was understandably not feeling my best.
Dr S. was running late so I had half an hour in the fabulously uncomfortable waiting room chair before I saw him. We had the usual "How are you doing?" conversation and I reported that my back was really quite uncomfortable. He read the letter from Prof G. and agreed to send me for physio at the hospital. It's better than the limited stuff that the physios as my local surgery can do, but still not specialist stuff. However, it's better than nothing and Dr S. recommended that I show them my letter from Prof G. when I see them so that they can start reading up on how to treat me. I'll even give them a copy if they really want :-)
He was about to turf me out when I reminded him that my back hurts really quite a lot. He asked where so I described and showed the location and he began checking it.
That's where the screaming comes in.
I'm hypermobile. This means that my joints can really flex an awful lot. Usually my back is incredibly flexible. Less so than it used to be due to twenty months of constant pain, but still pretty damn flexible. The first step was asking me to bend backwards as far as I could.
Er, I hardly got back at all before I went "Urf" quite quietly, which was better than the screaming I really wanted to do. Yes, it hurt. Grrr.
Then I had to straighten up. Um, ow. There was whimpering. And deep breaths. And, according to Mum, a very peculiar expression that is apparently my "Bloody hell that hurts but if I open my mouth I'll yell so yeah" expression. Now I know why my colleagues look so odd when I'm having a particularly bad twinge.
I am definitely not repeating that experience.
I then bent forwards and put my hands flat on the floor with no problem, as usual, and tilted sideways in both directions just as far as normal.
Dr S. looked very odd when I turned around and sent me off for an X-ray pronto.
This was uncomfortable, but not to flexing my back proportions and they gave me a gown that closed at the back, which made me very happy.
Then it was back to Dr S. where I waited. And waited. Mum had to leave for a church thing and I waited some more.
Finally, Dr S. called me in and looked at the X-ray. All the bones are where they should be, no massive gaping holes where discs should be and just some inflammation around my lumbar fascias.
All that pain for so little visible result? This is my body all over.
He does at least believe that there is pain and says it will eventually get better. When I'm older and stiffer. In the meantime, because I'm not sleeping, he's prescribed me a low dose of amitriptyline to hopefully act as a sedative and muscle relaxant (so I can finally have some sleep). It's apparently quite good for nerve pain in those doses, according to my lovely pharmacist. I see him again in three months "Because we should probably keep an eye on you."
I'd booked an appointment with my GP today in case Dr S. couldn't sort me out, so I decided to go to that anyway to update him on what's happening and check the ami-whatsit isn't one of the drugs my body doesn't like. We had a nice little chat, I confessed that sometimes I feel like I'm crazy to have so much pain for apparently no reason, and he was lovely and reassuring about it all.
Both my doctors seem delighted (and a little surprised) that I intend to continue working despite all of this. Go me.
If the ami-stuff doesn't work, Dr M. the GP told me to give him a call in a week or so and we'll review it and see what else we can try. He's a lovely, understanding man.
Thus ends this week's instalment of "Sel and her wonky body". Taking the first dose of the new stuff tonight and with any luck I'll still be able to function tomorrow. I thought it was best not to experiment on a work night!
Hopefully the next instalment will be my hip MRI where I'm now praying that something will show up to prove my sanity.
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-05 09:45 pm (UTC)*hugsyougently*
no subject
Date: 2007-10-06 12:09 pm (UTC)Hopefully this is going to work on the pain. That would be nice :-) Thank you for the hugs. How are you settling in at the new place?
no subject
Date: 2007-10-06 07:35 am (UTC)I really don't know what I can say. I'm sorry to hear that it's been so bad for you.
We're both thinking about you.
I hope that this eases off for you soon, and that you can take the dosage of the AI down again. Hope you managed to get a decent night's sleep.
Txx
no subject
Date: 2007-10-06 12:12 pm (UTC)I'd love to be back at the stage I had a month ago so with any luck this is the key. I got some sleep - woke up early and dozed after that, but at least I slept fairly steadily for five hours. I was a bit groggy when I got up this morning but no more than I usually am these days! I feel like I've been living through a fog of complete exhaustion the last few weeks and I just want to feel more comfortable and less foggy than I have been. It would certainly help me to do my work better!
no subject
Date: 2007-10-06 07:44 am (UTC)Are you sure it's that easy? ;-)
no subject
Date: 2007-10-06 12:13 pm (UTC)*g* Yeah. They're at least trying to make me more comfortable, which is good!
Are you sure it's that easy? ;-)
:-p~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
no subject
Date: 2007-10-07 01:33 pm (UTC)Go you indeed. You are an inspiration to us all ... so many people with chronic pain like yours would see it as an excuse to give up trying to live a 'normal' life. Not you.
***hugs*** (and I really hope it gets under control soon. It sounds so horrible. :( )
no subject
Date: 2007-10-07 05:27 pm (UTC)Um, I am blushing very vividly right now *g* Choosing to continue living my life as much as possible doesn't seem like a hard choice, to be honest. I find it harder to figure out how *not* to do it: I've worked to bloody hard to get a career and a life to give up on it just because things hurt!
and I really hope it gets under control soon.
So do I. Thank you for the hugs. Luckily I've got some lovely docs who are determined to find ways to make me comfortable, which really helps, so hopefully we'll get there soon.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-08 11:00 am (UTC)Doesn't sound utterly dissimilar to the back trouble I get, although several degrees worse: I can lean forward and sideways, but backwards is just not happening (when I'm suffering: it's ok at the moment). Forwards and sideways aren't very far either, but that's because I'm unfit, and inflexible rather than due to any traumatic medical condition.
My oseopath has explained that the spinal disks are bulging inward, and pressing on the spinal nerve. As I get older, this will stop, simply because, ... the disks will dry out, and become unable to bulge. So the problem will go away. Probably in my fifties.
He hasn't explained which problems I'll get to replace it though.
You may have known this already. And it's not particularly useful to know anyway.
Hope things have recovered somewhat in the meantime...
no subject
Date: 2007-10-11 07:15 pm (UTC)*g* Forwards and backwards I can do in spectacular fashion, due to my traumatic medical condition :-)
explained that the spinal disks are bulging inward
An MRI last year show "a very slight bulge" in one disc, but apparently not enough to cause any pain. Hmm. So we're currently that the point where it hurts really quite a lot and nobody knows why. And they're not too interested because lots of people have unexplained back pain. Yay.
So the problem will go away
I've been told that as I grow older and less flexible, all the pain will evaporate because I'll have normal flexibility in my fifties. For a teenager. I'm not holding my breath on that one.
He hasn't explained which problems I'll get to replace it though.
If I'm anything like the other overly-bendy people in my family, I can look forward to arthritis when I'm older. But hey, at least arthritis will make me less flexible and that's the root of all evil...right? :-)
Hope things have recovered somewhat in the meantime...
I'm still waiting for the new meds to kick in. And I might be doing something stupid tomorrow...