Doctors & pain meds plus hello

[Guest guest]

Hey everyone, Welcome to newbies Dawn and Deborah. I'm Steph in VA. I'm 27 and was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis and Reiter's Syndrome in 1999 when I was 22. My current meds are: Remicade (I get my next treatment this afternoon. YEAH!), Prednisone, Folic Acid, Methotrexate, Ibuprofen, Azulfidine EN and a muscle relaxant. I have also tried: naproxen, Celebrex, Vioxx, and Enbrel. I was on Vicodin for 2 weeks when my symptoms were at their worst but I didn't have a diagnosis.

Speaking of pain drugs and doctors, a few years ago I saw my sports medicine doctor while visiting my family in NY. I saw this doctor as a young teenager after several dance related injuries about 10 years prior to my arthritis diagnosis. He is good friends with my primary doctor in NY. I saw "Dr. I" while visiting my family. He saw me and said he had heard I had arthritis. He recently had been diagnosed with osteoarthritis and felt so bad about how I must feel since he is twice my age. He painfully told me he was heartbroken as to how insensitive he must have been when treating his patients because he didn't understand/believe the extent of their pain and was reluctant to give pain meds for fear that they would be addictive. Now, pain meds are all that help him.

To my memory "Dr. I" had been extremely sensitive to be with my injuries. While I certainly don't hope our doctors are diagnosed with arthritis, I do agree with the recent post -- if only they could spend a few days in our bodies. Actually, I really wish that those in elected office, who control what is studied -- spend days in our bodies so they realize disease research is more important than most of the frog sex studies that are funded!

That is my rant for today. Thanks for listening.

Take care,

Steph in VA

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