sore-ree-attic arthritis (part 2)

Previously on The Lot... anyway I decided to look for natural solutions as well. My first stop was Dr. Young Ki Park, an osteopath at Westview Medical Center. (I just visited him again on Monday and that served as the impetus for blogging about all this).

Dr. Park recommended some radical approaches. He wanted me to started a gluten-free and nearly dairy-free diet (yogurt ok). I was to avoid sugar, alcohol, soda, and coffee too. My first thought was, "What about pie?!?" with Thanksgiving lurking in the coming months. His response was, "If you want pie, have pie, but just one bite." Yeah right.

I followed the diet pretty strictly for awhile and also started taking some supplements he prescribed. These days, I limit all of the don'ts as best I can but definitely indulge - I just really monitor the intake.

But the other thing Dr. Park wanted to do was cupping. This is old skool medicine, kind of like bloodletting. Basically, to reduce the inflammation in problem areas, Dr. Park pricks me in areas like my upper back with a lancet about 20 times, then he uses a suction technique with these special glass cups and draws blood from the inflamed area. He did it once on my knee and has never had to do it again.

Admittedly, it kind of hurts and it looks nasty for a few days. But hey, its the in thing to do - I'm so like Gwenyth.

I went back for a follow-up with Dr. Batt and he stuck his nose up at Dr. Park's strategies and after a few more (expensive) tests he suggested that the pain was all in my head. So I dropped him like a bad habit.

Since Dr. Park's techniques only treat the symptoms of my disease. I needed a new rheumatologist and found a good one in Dr. Elizabeth Le. She was attentive, did a thorough exam, ran more tests, etc. She also diagnosed my condition as psoriatic arthritis and stepped things up by having me try a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) called methotrexate with folic acid to prevent side effects. This treatment took effect within a few weeks and combined with Dr. Park's tactics and getting back to regular exercise (especially swimming), I feel pretty normal.

Sorry if I alarmed any of you. This has been a major deal for me over the past year and I'm happy to report that things are pretty stabilized. I haven't been able to fill all of you in on this, so I thought this blog would be a good way to share my story.

I'll still be able to play bocce ball, but I'll be limited in what I can do from time to time. I passed a big test a few weeks ago when I helped move the swingset/fort for the Cesljarevs.

At the prime age of 35, it really stinks to have a form of arthritis. It can make you feel old and cricked. If anything changes, you'll hear about it on The Lot. Thanks for reading.

sore-ree-attic arthritis (part 1)

About 11 months ago, I started feeling pain in my left oblique. I thought, "Wow, I'm just like Ryan Dempster! I need to go on the DL." But the pain wouldn't subside. I had trouble turning from one side to another in my sleep. At first I thought I had injured myself with a mean game of bocce ball (a true sign that I'm getting older) in the backyard.

Then I tightened up on the left side of my neck. I could barely turn to the left and definitely couldn't look over my shoulder. I then started experiencing pain in my mid-back. It was like I had been in a car accident and just couldn't loosen up. I would cramp up in my back. On one horrible day, I drove up to Chicago to meet Cupcake Gal and could barely walk to the hotel room from the parking lot to meet her.

I went to a sports medicine doctor thinking I must be injured in some way. His solution was physical therapy. The PT was ok, but the pains (except the one in the neck) just wouldn't go away. After lots of wasted money and time, PT sent me back to the doc and he ran x-rays and blood tests. By this point, I also started started to notice swelling in my right index finger and knuckle. I also had a little inflammation in my left index finger near the fingernail.

After a few weeks, the doc said my SED and ANA rates were a little high and he wanted me to see a rheumatologist (these are the doctors that deal with arthritis patients and diseases like lupus). So I went to Dr. Batt, a top rheumatologist in Indy at Methodist Hospital and he was horrible. He rushed me through an examination and informed me that he thought I had psoriatic arthritis. He poo-poo'd any natural approaches, things to eat/avoid, etc. He handed me a pamphlet on the disease, prescribed an anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAID) and said to come back in a month.

I started reading about psoriatic arthritis and started to panic. The worst-case scenarios are pretty grim and I feared the worst. But the good news was that we had caught this very early and treatment could help/prevent the worst from happening.

to be continued.