Good part is in my birthday thread....

Here's the 'not good' part....

Arthritis (whatever I've got) is out of control. Pain is horrid most of the time. Morning stiffness lasts till dinnertime.

May: I've had 2 abscesses on my face, which forced me to stop all arthritis meds. Both have cleared up with copious amounts of antibiotics. It's been 2 weeks since last dose.

June: Since I had surgery (toes) in June, I've been on oxycodone and it's not enough much of the time. I hurt from lumbar on down to toes, in addition to hands.

July: In July, I was in such pain that I cried all the way home from work and estimated pain levels at 8-9 on Mankowski scale. It had been building for a couple of weeks. The next morning I started a steroid taper, despite being on antibiotics. It was great for 2 days, pretty good for another 5 days, then wasted away to nothing within 2 more weeks.

Saw rheumy in July and will continue on this path for the next 3 months and see if Enbrel will help. If it doesn't, I'm not sure what else to do. Is there any hope that another biologic would help?

August: Pain doc is doing what she can to help. I'm having several facet joints in lumbar spine injected this Friday. Next Friday, she is redoing the radiofrequency ablation on the SI joints. Bilateral in one visit, so I can avoid missing too much work. THAT'S going to be a [*bleep*]! Was discussing this and we agreed that I'll start a medrol pack the day before this procedure. (The trick will be waiting till then to start it...I hurt a lot right now) This will help the incredibly high amount of inflammation induced by the procedure. I'll be off work till Tuesday because of the Labor Day holiday. If it's really bad, I'll miss that day.

I took my first dose of MTX since early May just 4 days ago. If all goes well for 2 weeks (maybe 3 if I'm feeling pessimistic), I'll start Enbrel. If I get even ONE nasty infection, that's it for biologics. (The occasional sinus infection doesn't count. I get those regardless of biologics or not.)

But so much pain is in feet and legs. Pain doc can't help there. So there is the possibility of surgery to release some tension in the back of the leg (gastrocnemius recession). I discussed it briefly with the ortho doc who did my toes. We agreed to wait to see if getting back on meds, including Enbrel, will pull down the inflammation enough to let pain meds cover me. If not, that might help me. Hate to be entertaining the thoughts of surgery, but I hurt a lot and I have to keep working. My job provides the insurance for our family. Now that DH has prostate cancer, it will be tough to cover him.

So, now you've read why I didn't want to put this yukky stuff in my birthday thread.

DX: Psoriatic Arthritis, Osteoporosis, Psoriasis
Meds: MTX since Oct 2009, 15mg/week. Cimzia-restarted after 2 yrs away.
Epidural Steroid Injections x8; Lumbar Radiofreq Ablation x2
SIJ Steroid Injection x3; Bilateral Radiofreq Ablation SIJ x9