REPORT BACK FROM THE RHEUMATOLOGIST

Snapped this picture of the waiting room while I was there.

Well, it turns out my web sleuthing was correct. I do appear to have psoriatic arthritis. It’s funny how I started down this road, it was all sparked by a TV commercial for a drug treating psoriatic arthritis. As soon as I heard those words there was a spark in my mind that led to reading all about it and pretty much diagnosing myself. Of course, I also diagnosed myself with a tight hamstring as the cause, so my batting average is still pretty shitty.

I would have eventually been passed along to the rheumatologist. I think the orthopedic doctor would have tried a few more things before referring me along, but I basically told him to do the MRI before the end of the year just in case (that sweet, sweet deductible) but then to pass me along because I had this hunch and he agreed. So off I went to into the world of auto-immune joint inflammation.

First of all, I was the only person younger than 70 in the waiting room. So that was a huge confidence boost right there. Not. Eventually I see the doctor and she asks some questions, does some poking and moving of joints, and comes to the psoriatic arthritis diagnosis. I’m not a classic case, but she still was pretty confident that’s what it is based on all the other work I’ve had done and the way my body was reacting.

Overall, at the moment, my case is milder and I don’t have some of the symptoms of when it can get really bad. So that’s good. No sausage fingers for me. It’s also early enough where my joints haven’t likely suffered long term damage. Also good. With treatment, I should be feeling back to close to normal. She wasn’t willing to say I’d be 100% normal again, but that is where some people can get. Almost like a remission of the arthritis. You can’t cure it, but you can treat it. So I’m hoping I can get to that point.

She also agreed it wasn’t triggered by the running, rather, this was something that was going to happen regardless of that whole deal. When I first was seeking help, the running made sense, the dual marathons I did, the sore knees, etc. Unfortunately, that kind of sidetracked my treatment for a while as we were looking for a mechanical issue to diagnose and fix. However, I think you have to go down that road first to rule it out regardless. It just sucks it took almost a year to get an answer. And let’s hope this is the final answer! I think it will be though.

Until a cure is found (aka probs not), I’ll have to take a prescription for life if I want to keep it at bay. So that kind of blows. However, it is better than the alternative, which is the disease progressing and me being unable to walk by the time I’m 50. By taking treatment, I can pretty much proceed as normal and my joints should be no worse for the wear other than the typical aging effects.

The drug I’ll be taking is meth. Jay kay. It’s methotrexate. It’s the most commonly prescribed drug for arthritis. In large doses it can be a chemotherapy drug, like 100x what I’m taking, so if you search for it on the internet the results can be really scary. However, in smalls doses it’s pretty safe as evidenced by its huge user base. While it usually treats rheumatoid arthritis, it also treats psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis very effectively. So I’ll be taking a pill of that once a week! The most common side effect is gastrointestinal distress when you take the pill, however, I had almost zero discomfort on my first dose so hopefully I won’t experience that. One bonus is that it also treats psoriasis, so the little patches on my scalp that I do have should go away.

Sweet, sweet pharmaceuticals... that's actually what
they look like though!

The drug takes many weeks to reach its full effectiveness. I should have “relief” three weeks in and by six weeks the drug should reach its maximum effect. So hopefully, by mid-April, I’ll be feeling like a new man. If not, they can always tweak the dosage or try a different medication. If I’m also feeling awesome they can try to lower the dose a little and see if I could have the same result on a lesser dose. So I’ll be visiting with the doctor every three months or so to check in and adjust if necessary.

Overall, I am just happy to finally have an answer I truly can believe. All the other times I’ve just been like “okay, that makes sense, let’s try that” but never really was convinced we had the root problem nailed. I feel differently this time. I have a sense of hope because I think we’ve figured it out and there is relief in sight! It sucks to have to take a pill, but hey, overall it’s not so bad. It could be a lot worse and I should be grateful for being alive and generally healthy, minus this little deal.

I’ll let you know how I’m feeling in the coming weeks! I decided to sign up for the Shamrock 8k with Brandon in three weeks, so that should be interesting. I think I can run about four miles right now without stopping, so I’m close to being able to shuffle along for five that day. We’ll see!