I saw my Rheumatologist December 30th, and was given a Pnuemonia and Flu Vaccine. I've never taken this before and he didn't give me a choice. I'm figuring it's a precaution being I'm on the Imuran, and anemic.
I have spent these first weeks in January flaring with only a small break in between. Fevers of 100 degrees have been the usual, which is unusual for me. I normally stay with a low body temp around 97.3. I have developed considerable upper spine pain, which I hadn't been having before now.
My medications were changed back in December too, so I'm trying to determine if I'm flaring because of that, because of these vaccines, or just because it's January. ;) I gave up last night and returned to the dosages I had previously been on. The pain has been more extreme than usual.
I saw my Rheumatologist May 5th. We discussed the bad reaction I had to the immunizations in January. My doctor asked if I had been able to reduce, or get off of the Flexeril, and I had to explain when I tried, I wasn't sleeping very well and was waking up with more pain. He had wanted me to replace Flexeril with Xanax to relieve the dryness I was feeling in my mouth. But the Xanax was causing me to still feel sleepy in the mornings, so I went back on the Flexeril.
He asked me if I had began the Reglan to help with the trouble swallowing. I explained I tried it for four months and that my husband felt I needed to get off of it, because he had noticed a big change in my countenance. It seemed to heighten any emotion I had. If I was sad, it made me "over the top" sad, which he read was a side effect of the drug.
We then discussed my pain management with my current list of medications. My doctor wanted me to add Plaquenil back in, but to try introducing it at a lower dose for now, being in the past, I've struggled with taking it. He also discussed possibly increasing the Imuran but he wanted to wait until we had some test results back and to see if I was able to manage on the Plaquenil. So far, I have well tolerated the Plaquenil at this lower dose.
The doctor ordered lab work to test for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Vasculitis, both which have returned with normal results. So I guess we can rule these diseases out for now.
I saw my internist to have labwork done to monitor the Imuran and my anemia. I should have these results in a few days. The only new changes is that he is wanting to introduce Advair to possibly eliminate, or cut back, on taking the Albuterol. He also would like for me to have a bone density scan and begin taking calcium and Vitamin D.
The Bone Density test showed that I have Osteopenia...otherwise, the beginning stages of Osteoporosis. I have been started on Fosomax, Calcium, and Vitamin D. I have also developed another infection for which I'm taking Levaquin.
As you can see.....it has been years in between since I have updated this website. It would be too difficult to recall my health situation the last few years, so I will try and pick up from here.
I see my rheumatologist every 18 weeks now. I presently have been diagnosised with UCTD (Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease), Fibromyalgia, Osteopenia,Vitamin D Deficiency, and Anemia. I take 22 pills a day to help keep my disease under some kind of control. One of them, Immuran, is an immunotherapy drug which has to be monitored with blood tests every six weeks. Stress, sun, and pushing myself too hard causes me to flare (which just means my symptoms become aggravated) and can keep me down for days, or even weeks. Some days I flare for no reason at all. I've been learning how to live with these problems for 14 years. I feel pretty sure I can say with certainity, I'm taking back ground! Next blood test is April 20th. Next rheumatology appointment is June.
1973-2007