Re: Welcome, Jan!

[Guest guest]

Jan welcome: I have read your post and need to ask you

some questions...you said you recieve care from a

military hospital...do you have tri-care...Prime or

standard? My husband is retired and we use the

prime...

You can ask to be referred to a rhuematologist...the

military system doesnt have any therfore they have to

send you out...any service they cant provide they have

to send you out....you also have the right to a

second,,third opinion....you can get by this

internist,if he told you cant ..you need to see the

patient representative that is in that facility and

she can help you...that is what they are there

for...The trigger points you asked about is a

diagnostic tool they use for fibromylgia there are 18

points and if you have 11 of the 18 in all four

quardrants of your body they say you have

fibromyalgia...the osteo...which ?

osteoarthritis or osteporosis...even if they sound the

same they are not..osteoarthritis is

degeneration..osteoporosis is loss of bone mass...have

they done an MRI of your spine? There are other

antiinflamotory drugs that work..I couldnt tolerate

Vioxx so they switched me to Celebrex and have had no

problems..except military hospital system provides

Vioxx so I have to go downtown for celebrex and pay a

9 dollar co-pay...you can be seronegitive and still

have any of the connective tissue diseases...a good

rheumy usually looks at all your symtoms,medical

charts,testing.....even if your blood work is

seronegetive the symptoms count...because Lupus for

example has a criteria of 11 you only have to have 4

or more....ANA is just one...these are not symptoms

they

are criteria...same is true with RA...but a good

rhuemy will also look at all the symptoms..If you dont

understand something ask....you have the right to

understand what they are telling you....and read

...read..read the more you understand the better off

you will be...this group posts some great links that

some very special people have gone hunting for and you

will be amazed at what you will learn in a short

time...they are always great about answering

questions...so welcome and I hope some of what I have

written helps...Kathi in OK

--- <Matsumura_Clan@...> wrote:

> Thank you for your welcome.

>

> I have a lot of questions. Has anyone ever been

> tested negative for RA

> and yet carry almost all the symtoms? I just came

> from my doctor

> yesterday after being told again that my tests are

> negative not only for

> RA but lupus. In reading over the first batch of

> emails form your

> group, I find I share many of the symptoms and have

> for many years.

> There are days that I just have to force myself to

> move and literally

> will myself to make the next move. I work a full

> time job that

> fortunately does not involve any heavy lifting or

> constant movement.

> Most people just do not understand when I say I am

> in constant pain. My

> mother who died 3 1/2 years ago at 85 used to say

> the same thing and she

> also never had any relief from her doctors. I am

> 61. My list of

> ailments include: dry eye(sometimes painful), chest

> pain and rib pain,

> fatigue and malaise, fuzzy vision at times, have had

> surgery on both

> wrists for carpal tunnel, knee and ankle pain, joint

> aches, shortness of

> breath at times, fast pulse(low blood pressure), and

> lately the neck and

> shoulders are severely painful. I find it hard to

> walk any great

> distance and carry anything that weighs more than a

> few ounces. My

> doctor is an internist and is with the military

> hospital system. I

> cannot get past him to any other kind of doctor. I

> would go on the

> outside, if I thought there might be help for me,

> but have no idea who

> to see first. I have taken celebrex which helped

> for a short time but

> affected my stomach. Currently, all I take is

> Tylenol 2 - 3x a day.

> The doctor says that I have Osteo and trigger points

> but I am not clear

> on what they are exactly. I also have low bone

> density. My finger

> joints are also affected. I sometimes have swelling

> in my feet and

> redness but of course it is always gone by the time

> I am able to make an

> appointment with the doctor. The flesh on my right

> thigh has been

> extremly painful for about 15 years but since they

> could not make a

> diagnosis, I was put on Elavil for several years.

> Almost 2 years ago, I

> had a blood clot in my lung and was taken off of

> everything except

> Tylenol. The pain has increased since then when new

> areas that have

> been affected. I do not talk about it to most of my

> friends(there are

> only 2 who really understand) or my family. I just

> keep going and going

> and going. I do lead an active life though limited

> in what I can do.

> Does anyone have any suggestions or infomation that

> would be beneficial?

> Thanks for all your help in advance.

>

> Jan in CA. (Lynn-I am a Me-Ma. 7 grandkids.)

>

>

>

>