Rheumatologist visits and the unknown

What just happened? I woke up the day of my appointment excited. Ok, not exactly excited, however, this rheumatological visit was going to be different. I felt it. I was early to the appointment. That in it self, proves how confident I was. I am tardy to everything! Even when the nurse asked me step on the scale...I was like, Boom! Show me that 200lb. scale number. I am living my truth!

So when I happily told my rheumatologist that I seem to have a balance on things. I expected yes, you are living well with your chronic illnesses. Apparently, that movie was only playing in my head. The pain and inflammation in my hands and feet have been getting worse. I've been managing it with cannabis. My rheumatologist said that the Sjogren's along with the Fibromyalgia is the culprit to my troublesome hand movements.. Can I still make a fist? Good...let's try to keep it like that! I have three courses of action: (1) increase my Lyrica-although it would be at the max available. (2) use a CBD cream that would alleviate some of the pain. (3) change the Etodolac to Diclofenac both (NSAID)nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. We chose option 3. Medications need to be adjusted some more frequent than others because the body becomes immune to it. In three months we will hop on the next course of action that the rheumatologist stated was chemotherapy. Shock everything out of the body...Start over.

Some doctors prescribe cancer-fighting drugs for lupus because they have few other options to slow down an immune system gone haywire. Few drugs have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating lupus.