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Well, the good news is I don't have arthritis. Said news was met with a lot of what? really?? and a bunch of relief, followed by a healthy dose of what the hell. I have no idea what's going on with my hands. 8|
But we've checked bones, and they're fine. (They are, in fact, exceedingly healthy. Huzzah.) We've checked tendons and they're fine ( Read more... )
But we've checked bones, and they're fine. (They are, in fact, exceedingly healthy. Huzzah.) We've checked tendons and they're fine ( Read more... )
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With me they knew something was wrong but couldn't work out what (after all blood shouldn't just clot on its own). It wasn't until they noticed I was slowing down and sent me to the arthritis clinic a couple of years later that they saw the start of the arthritis. It took years (over a decade) for the inflammation markers to reach the level where they could actually prescribe useful drugs for me, despite the arthritis heavily deforming my joints (especially hands). And a smart doctor to realise it was psoriatic, despite the fact that I had never had psoriasis (which puts me in the far less than 1% category). But without that physical deformation it would have been impossible for me to convince any doctor that it wasn't my imagination. I pity the hoops the CFS and fibromyalgia people (although it is better now than it was).
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That sounds like a lot of painful hoops to jump through and, sadly, what I've come to expect of the health profession in general. To be fair, if they start taking anything but the most basic tests on things they tend to get hauled before the review board for it, but that doesn't help the bunch of us who have issues that can't easily be pigeonholed. Psoriasis is so rare, and I'm sorry you have it.
It took six years of a doctor saying "There's nothing wrong with you, it's probably your imagination and you just need to lose some weight" before a relief doctor finally worked out I had cancer, so. The prejudice of doctors to assume patients are exaggerating or just a victim of the most obvious thing is really problematic.
tl;dr I really hope it's not fibromyalgia, just on the basis that I can see that not getting diagnosed for far too long, if ever.
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It doesn't help that the specialties doesn't talk to each other. For example, from rheumatology I know that metabolic failure is a characteristic of psoriatic arthritis. But most endocrinologists and dermatologists don't because it was published in an rheumatology journal (which admittedly generally covers the severe chronic forms of the disease). That's caused problems from at least one acquaintance who keeps being pushed into diabetic management for these failures when she is not actually diabetic).
[Then again girl and overweight. Who is going to listen to her in the first place?]
Then again I've got the advantage that I've worked with medical directors (who know they're god) so a registrar doesn't scare me at all. Plus the "former occupation" of medical physicist automatically confers fellowship (even if it really shouldn't). Although I did ( ... )
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sometimes it's easier but not better having someone to catch you and hold you up, those self-determination muscles atrophy and so does independence, your choice might be challenging but probably for the best... i applaud you and cheer you on and hope all the best for you. sending out positive and encouraging vibes from the other side of the globe }}}}}{{{{{ they say that vibrations pass through solids better than through air so hopefully you'll feel them. =) your friends are rooting for you and would love to have occasional reports of your progress and struggles so we can praise and encourage you so keep in touch. love ya and sending hugs too!
gin
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I kind of fell off the map after promising to come back here more often! It's kind of like-- nope, I still have nothing interesting to talk about, and I don't want to bog everyone down with long rambling thoughts on depression, because that gets so tiring after a while. e_e But yes, I'll come back here when I try and work things through and I'm not too far away. Thanks for the well-wishes :)
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