yo ho, yo ho, it's Plaquenil for me

It's time, once again, for an update on my health. I know, I know, super exciting stuff.

If you remember I had a wicked case of tennis elbow at the start of the year. Right before my follow up my elbow started hurting again, but in a slightly different way. I couldn't straighten it all the way and being my elbow to touch my shoulder became impossible. Plus I have what seems to be a Rheumatoid Nodule on my left elbow.

Like a good patient I went and had all my labs done the day before. Dr. L may have pointed out to me that he knew I had the blood draw the day before so that I could see my results before I saw him. He knows me so well already. All of my labs were stable, so that is a 100% good sign.

My visit with Dr. L was a long one. Partially because we got on the topic of religion and that lead to a fascinating conversation.

Here's the bottom line, in Dr. L's words, "You're not normal." (that would be about my health, not about my religious beliefs)

(insert me giggling here)

Basically, something is up but my symptoms still aren't presenting in a clear manner. He decided to start me on Plaquenil. It's a low dose, low side effect drug. That's the great news. The not so great news is that it can take up to three months to start working. I may not have Rheumatoid Arthritis, I may have connective tissue disorder. Judy explains that it's like I have a bunch of autoimmune stuff going on but nothing really becomes dominate.

In the meantime, since I've seen Dr. L I've developed some pain in my fingers with the occasional swelling. I've had some knee pain and my jaw hurts from time to time. When I've been sitting for a while and stand I walk like an 80 year old for a little bit. My right wrist provides the most consistent pain. I get tired in the evenings and some days I have that achy flu feeling all day long. Those days are the worst.

I know it sounds terrible but really, it isn't. It's more annoying then anything else. All in all I'm doing pretty good, just waiting for the medicine to fully kick in. I have another follow up in three months.