A Young Wife’s Tale

Oh, how far we’ve come in our journey with Psoriatic Arthritis. Remember the awful rheumatologist in New Jersey who wanted to take David off the Humira? He didn’t believe David had psoriatic arthritis. David had a great visit with his old Dallas rheumatologist last week. David and I told the doctor how well David has [...]

The week of September 12-18, National Chronic Invisible Illness Awareness Week, David started getting red welts or hives on his torso. Just a few at first, and I initially thought it was the psoriasis. I immediately went into panic mode, assuming the Humira had stopped working on his Psoriatic Arthritis, and that he was going to start having the terrible flares that leave him bedridden again. David quickly figured out it wasn’t psoriasis. He took Benadryl, and the hives went away.

The next day they came back, only worse. He saw our family doctor who gave him some allergy medicine. I make our laundry detergent and cleaning products, and nothing new had been introduced. David wasn’t using any new shampoos or soap.

This went on for days. Allergy medicine would clear up his skin, but the welts kept coming back. Then one afternoon while I was at my part-time administrative assistant job, David started having trouble breathing. The allergic reaction was making his throat close up.

David and I had the opportunity to watch a new movie “I’m Just Like You – Children With Psoriasis” tonight, and it was wonderful!

The film follows the lives of five families dealing with Psoriasis, an auto-immune disease that affects more than seven million Americans. We appreciated hearing the stories of young people struggling with psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis just like David. Some of the children had parents with the disease. It was great hearing their perspectives.

David is a full time permanent employee again! You may recall that his company in New Jersey had him on a trial period as a remote employee. The trial period is over. He will continue working for them from home in Texas! We are so thankful for God’s Providence.

Some of the simplest remedies that help him are things like over the counter heat patches, heating pads, and hot baths with epsom salts. Another thing that has helped David is chiropractic care.

I’ve blogged before about the Back 2 Life Machine. It was very helpful when he was flaring so badly the muscles in his back would spasm. You could actually see the muscles in his lower back twitching. The Back 2 Life Machine helped stretch David’s lower back very gently.

At different times David’s rheumatologists have given him injections in his back of things like methotrexate and cortisone. They typically only offered mild relief.
Doctors have prescribed many different medications to help David with his pain. Some of the medications that have given David significant relief are hydrocodone, Lyrica, Flexeril and Cymbalta. There was only one time when David asked a doctor for pain medication, and the doctor didn’t want to (but he’s the horrible rheumatologist who didn’t think David had Psoriatic Arthritis). I convinced him to give David the medicine, and we found a new rheumy ASAP.