Reactive Thoughts

Well it has been exactly a month since I was admitted to hospital for Reactive Arthritis... my left foot is particularly whingy tonight to celebrate the anniversary of the commencement of my treatment.

I went back to work last Tuesday - my GP offered me more time at home, but I was pretty keen to make a start back even if it was only for 4 or 5 hours each day. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this but the condition, due to inflammation, has also sent me mildly aenemic. Anyhoo, so far so good with going back to work - though all the things you might expect, did happen. I found the drive a chore, particularly the home trip. Pain levels especially in my feet were up and I felt pretty much knackered by the time I got home - I'm glad it went as expected - I don't like surprises :)

The condition is improving, I know this because my Prednisone dose continues to reduce and my pain levels are generally manageable with low level doses of analgesics - that would not have been the case 2 weeks ago - ergo I must be improving. The condition is improving, I know this because.... The condition is improving.....

I've got to stop reading stuff on the net - the more I read, the more instances I find where this thing goes longer than the text books generally suggest. My specialist claims that 95% of people make a full recovery within 12 months and this is supported by many sources on the net with relapse figures for a 2nd helping at some point thereafter ranging between 20% to 50% of cases. These are odds that I can work with - they give hope!

Unfortunately a recently published longitudinal study by the US Defense Force of 251 patients between 1997 & 2009 showed that 38% of males were still receiving treatment for active symptoms after 2 years and in my age demographic this rose to a scary 59%. In another study of Canadian Police (in 1984, 432 Police suffered Gastro as a result of food poisoning - same antecedent as me - during a Papal visit, 27 ended up with Reactive Arthritis) 66% were still being treated for recurring symptomology 5 years later! The 2 studies are not inconsistent when you look at the gender & age. These odds offer less hope!

As someone who was an active athlete and part-time adventure sportsperson from the time I was 10 till I was 44 years old I'm no stranger to feeling sore and/or recovering from injury. The kinds of mobility restrictions and the levels of pain that I am currently experiencing, are really no different now to what I've lived with on & off throughout my life. The big difference is that I've never needed such massive doses of NSAIDs (still 1g per day - makes 25mg Voltaren Rapids look a bit lame), with Cortisone (down to 10mg Prednisone per day) & Sulphur (up to 2g per day of Sulfasalazine) and still needed to take the odd Panadeine Forte or Endone to cope. I'm also used to seeing rapid improvement and knowing with relative certainty that the discomfort is temporary. Though I know I am improving, it is much slower than recovery from an injury and the everydayness of it does get a little wearing.

I haven't been going for any walks since I started back at work due to tiredness - but I did get up to 1,200m in around 30 minutes the weekend before last and I'm hoping to reintroduce a walk by this weekend - just have to suck it and see.....

On the upside, I'm finding I can play guitar for around 30 minutes without too much discomfort - though only melody lines and open chords. It hurts my left thumb too much to play barre chords or do bends, but at least I can noodle around - frustrating that I can't do a lot of what I could, but pleasing that I can caress timber and strings once more. I guess I just have to take it one day at a time - I mean Daniel Johns (Silverchair) and Mark St. John (Kiss) both made pretty good recoveries from RA, so I just need to keep channeling guitar playing recovery vibes :)

The condition is improving, I know this because........