A Young Wife’s Tale

We’re still working on the anti-inflammation diet our acupuncturist recommended. David has been dairy free for two weeks now. We are avoiding tomatoes and peppers, but haven’t completely cut them out, yet. He’s drinking one soda a week and eating lots more vegetables. I’m so proud of the progress he’s making!

August is National Psoriasis Awareness Month. My husband, David, has Psoriatic Arthritis. We didn’t even know he had Psoriasis until he was diagnosed with the arthritis. David has mild Psoriasis on his scalp that he’d always assumed was dandruff. Once, just before his worst arthritis flare, he had Psoriasis on his knees.

David saw his New Jersey rheumatologist again last week. He still doesn’t have David’s file from his Texas rheumatologist. They’ve sent a second copy, but I’m tired of calling back and forth between the two offices. I want the offices to talk to each other. We signed a release form. My TMJ specialists can talk to each other. Why can’t rheumatologists? I want the NJ doctor’s office to call me when they receive the file so I can quit calling them to ask about it. And if his file is on CD, why can’t they just email it?

It was a frustrating visit all around. The NJ rheumatologist thinks David doesn’t have arthritis. David has never had swelling in his joints. David’s blood work and new x-rays looked “perfectly healthy” to the doctor. David is on “one medication from almost every classification of drugs”, but he’s in extreme pain. He’s not in remission. The rheumatologist thinks that if David has arthritis, he should be responding to all the medication. He thinks David has fibromyalgia. But, the rheumatologist is hesitant to take David off of anything until he sees David’s complete file and bone scan.

We met with David’s new rheumatologist yesterday. The old rheumatologist back in Dallas sent a copy of David’s file on June 16, but it still hadn’t made it’s way to South Jersey. The mail runs very slowly between Texas and New Jersey.

So, without any paper work, x-rays or labs to go on, the doctor examined David, asked a few questions and told him he looked great. He could see any signs of Psoriatic Arthritis. Of course, that could just be because of all the medication he’s taking.

He questioned David’s diagnosis for several reasons, and ordered new x-rays plus the standard blood work David has every eight weeks.

If you asked me what Psoriatic Arthritis is, I’d say it’s a terrible disease that has changed my life. It’s debilitating and frustrating and taking some Aleve won’t cure it. That’s one of the biggest misconceptions. That David has arthritis like your Grandma got arthritis in her fingers when she was 80 and couldn’t knit any more until the doctor gave her Celebrex and now she’s doing great. It’s not the same kind of arthritis at all.