Off to see the wizard

By the title you probably thought this post was going to be about The Wizard of Oz,  but I was referring to my rheumatologist (Dr. O) as the wizard because of all the wonderful things she does to help with my pain and such. This past Tuesday I had an appointment with Dr. O, just a regular check up.

First I should give you a little background about my arthritis... When I was first diagnosed I had lumps on both of my wrists, and I was misdiagnosed by three other doctors claiming it was just a cyst or carpal tunnel syndrome.  They said it would go away in time, but the pain and the swelling just increased.  Then I went to the "great and powerful Oz" - -  Dr. O who took one look my wrists and said that I had arthritis.   She started me on medicine and after some time my arthritis went into remission. 

About 2 years ago the joints in my jaw (TMJ) got inflamed and damaged from the arthritis.   My other joints seemed to still be fine.  Then the other week when I was driving,  I noticed my right ankle or "driving ankle" was really sore and stiff after driving.  I also noticed that my right wrist was really hurting when I wrote in my classes and straightened my hair. So at my appointment on Tuesday I asked Dr. O about it.  She checked it out and sure enough both my right wrist and ankle have inflammation!

This really bummed me out, because now I was having what is called a "flare".  That when the arthritis is active and causes pain, swelling, and stiffness.  So now instead of taking one pill a day, I have to take two pills every day and once a week I take 6 of another pill.  I'm also on some prescription pain killer.

Unfortunately there was no yellow brick for me to follow to be arthritis free, but there are flying monkeys, a cowardly lion and Toto.