Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Rheum Appt 1/3/12

So had an appointment with my Rheumatologist on Friday to discuss the ever-growing list problems with me.  He said it was all signs that my RA was progressing faster than he had thought it would, and that it was moving pretty aggressively, as I was having pain not just in my hands and arms, but in my back, teeth/jaw, and feet. He kept me on the oral methotrexate, despite my stomach issues, and put me on Enbrel injections, which should clear insurance by later this week.

1. Glad it's nothing else.
2. Wasn't a fan of the "wow" look when I told him what was going on.

He also hit me with the "no more running" thing for the first time. Now I had a feeling something like this was coming, especially since I had two episodes of feet pain recently, but still stung a little. As one can see by the title of this blog, I enjoy running, have been doing it for years, and was really looking forward to making some sort of "hobby/lifestyle" out of it by running half/full marathons, trail runs, and triathlons hopefully at some point. So, my dilemma the entire weekend has been between two routes to take:

1. Listen to the Dr., don't run, change my exercising to better accommodate my RA so I can eliminate as much pain as possible (if possible).

2. "**** it I'm gonna run, not gonna let RA stop me", that whole thing. It was a constant battle all weekend.

(thanks for the responses from those on twitter)

Monday, I chose route #2. I am now paying for route #2 (I think). Went for a 4 mile run, since the half-marathon is 26 days away, I NEEDED to run, NEEDED to. It was new shoes that I had walked around with for a while, Aasics, so they are good running shoes. Feet hurt during the run, and I was so unbelievably much slower than my usual pace that I didn't even wanna time the damn thing on my watch. The pain during the run? nothing in comparison to the pain from last night thru the entire day today. Three things I noticed during the day today:

1. First time it's "hurt" to get out of bed.
2. First time this foot joint pain, has stung so much to the point where I have to try and not let out an audible groan/shreek/yell at work (they still don't know I have RA, and being a "writer" and all I'm not sure how this is gonna work).
3. Hand pain is just crazy, hand, wrist, elbow, wow.

He said its moving aggressively so that's just the way it is, or maybe it was my run, or maybe it's the unusually cold weather in Miami, but man is it a bummer to actually feel a disease progressing inside of u, where pain is one place one day, two places the next day.

Gonna hope to try spinning tomorrow morning (I hope no pain getting out of bed), the half is the 29th of January, gotta do something or it's not happening.

P.S.
I know there are a lot out there who have it worse than me, so I hope no one takes this blog offensive or inconsiderate of their condition.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Kyle,

    I found your blog by searching for RA and Running. I was diagnosed with RA back in August (although I've been ignoring the symptoms since about Jan). I had to wait for 2 months to see a Rheum, and I could really feel this thing setting in within that time with morning stiffnes and snd the pain moving from just my hands to other areas.

    I'm taking 20mg of Meth a week and seem to be responding to this. Strangely I'm also finding that eating wheat makes me flare, so I'm avoiding this.

    Thank you for sharing your blog with us. I'm a keen runner and I totally get your 'routes'. I've been doing this alot myself. I can't take the fact that this thing inside me wants to take the one thing that I need for relaxation and serenity.

    I bought some lynco insoles with metatarsal support for my runners and these have helped a great deal. When I went to my first Rheum appt, I was in total denial when he pointed out that my ankles were inflamed :)

    I recently put away my runners while I went on an overseas holiday and it kind of helped a bit. It made me realise that the terrible aching in my feet and ankles aren't from the running, it's from this disease. I don't need to keep questioning that now.

    Now that the mtx is starting to kick in, I'm slowly getting back to running. In a flare, I don't ever think that my joint ever be able to be used again, but somehow it's getting better and (touch wood) some of them feel ok.

    I do hope the Enbrel works for you Kyle. My thoughts are with you

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  2. Kyle, if I were you I would consider swimming as your primary exercise.I mean, it is MUCH easier for your joints.You move all of your body, and you get a good rush.It's funny, you can make it as challenging as running. I've been allways a runner. I switched, and, I've never regreted that step. Seriously. I talk from my own experience.

    Running is not the best exercise for RAers. No way, unless you're in remission or something like that. You can keep a run or two per week, when you feel like that...

    Hope the Enbrel does the trick for you. You're young, in a good form. I bet it will work nicely :)

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