Miriam's New Rheumatologist

[stormdog]

Miriam got some of the blood test results from the set that the new rheumatologist ordered. Her C-reactive protein, which indicates inflammation in the body, is over 4 times high normal. It has been 4-5 times high normal for 2 years now, and maybe longer than that since it wasn't being tested. She's been having serious pain and other symptoms longer than that, so inflammation was probably high then too.

The first rheumatologist concluded that it could be adipose tissue generating inflammation. That the problem is she's fat. He also diagnosed her with fibromyalgia, which completely fails to explain high inflammation levels.

I'm feeling a mixture of anger that it can take so very long to figure these things out, hope that the new rheumatologist will have more fruitful ideas, and fear that she won't, and sadness that my partner has been dealing with this for so long and hurting so much in so many ways.

Comments

[acelightning73]

It appears that fibromyalgia is a sort of generalized inflammatory response. It's considered an autoimmune disease. Some people find medical cannabis helps with the pain.

[stormdog]

It is, and it does cause mildly elevated CRP. But the nurse practitioner at the chronic pain clinic and the 2nd rheumatologist think it's far too high for fibro to account for. The NP said that in her opinion it was "shocking" that the 1st rheumatologist gave her a fibro diagnosis and referred her to her GP for management. She (the NP) is the one who worked with Miriam for another rheumatologist referral.

She's tried CBD oil, but I guess didn't find it helpful enough to keep using. She is currently on the maximum safe daily does of extended release aspirin every day, which usually is enough to make the pain pretty low. When it's not enough, we also have methocarbamol and 10% diclofenac topical cream to add in. Which still isn't always enough, but helps.

[acelightning73]

What about nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, like ibuprofen? And how about topical capsaicin?

[stormdog]

NSAIDs give her ulcers, unfortunately. On the capsaicin, I'm not sure if two topicals can be applied together? I guess I don't know why they couldn't be...

Thank you for your thoughts!

[acelightning73]

I've had a lot of medical misadventures in recent years, and a lot of people seem to find capsaicin useful. Read the labels on both topical preparations and see if it says anything about interacting with other medications.

[sabotabby]

I hope the new rheumatologist has some good ideas, although fibro is a nightmare. So many women, and especially fat women, get this runaround from doctors. I'm so sorry she has to deal with this.

[stormdog]

Thanks you for the sympathy. I appreciate it.

We're hoping when the rest of the tests come back, there will be more to go on. There are some that have not been run before.