Elbow Flare!

Meet Dulci, one of my two whippets. She loves her cave bed and doesn't it look comfy? :) 

I can't sleep. This happened last time I started a course of steroids, too. Plus, tomorrow is my first day of physics lab and I'm nervous to be getting back into the swing of things.

Monday I had a flare in both elbows. So obviously no effect from Humira yet, not that I expected it this soon. It was the worst pain I have ever felt, worse than an obstructive kidney stone, worse than trigeminal neuralgia and seizure headaches, worse than having a neuroma injected with corticosteroids. My elbows were so hot! It felt like the synovial fluid was replaced with MOLTEN LAVA! All I could do was lay there, keeping my arms still, and just cry. I could not believe how much pain I was in. At first, it felt a little better to extend my arm, but then any movement at all hurt. Tuesday I woke up feeling a little better, but as I used my elbow more, it flared just as badly as Monday again.

Rheumy prescribed another round of prednisone. I hate taking steroids and rheumy agrees, but he's more worried about the damage being caused by these constant flares. I know I'm lucky to have a rheumy who was willing to treat me aggressively right away and when I call with flares he always calls me back personally. I have worked with doctors for almost a decade and that is something special.

RA is moving like wildfire lately with a neck flare and the migraines that caused, new joints affected, tendonitis in flaring joints, small red bumps near flaring joints, and pain in my SI joint area. My mom was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis along with RA. The first rheumy I saw told me that was impossible and that her doc was a quack. He had a horrible bedside manner, needless to say. I don't know whether mom really has the fusing characteristic of AS but I know she had pain in that area.

Maybe if I lay very still I will be able to finally sleep. More likely I'll be ready to sleep when I should be waking up in a few hours. *sigh*

Waiting for Spring