Doctors suck and I don’t trust them
There’s an old joke about a guy going to his doctor to complain about pain in one of his arms. He demonstrates the problem to his doctor by lifting his arm above his head and twisting it a certain way. He says, “Doc, it hurts when I do this.” The man’s doctor looks at his patient and tells him, “Then stop doing that“.
Seems pretty obvious, right?
Well, maybe not. When I was laid off from my job as a electronics technician this past September, it changed my life in many ways. Not all the changes were negative. Some were quite positive. One of these positive changes was that the psoriasis I’ve had on my hands for years is now almost completely gone. My right hand is completely psoriasis free. My left hand currently only has one tiny spot of psoriasis that I’m able to manage completely by putting a piece of cloth athletic tape on it.
It’s become clear to me that working everyday with my hands contributed greatly to my problems with psoriasis. Working with my hands didn’t cause my psoriasis, that’s not the way it works. Psoriasis is caused by my autoimmune system causing new skins cells to grow where they are not needed. In my case, it’s the palms of my hands and my fingers.
Why then didn’t any of the doctors I’ve seen for my psoriasis ever tell me to find a job that didn’t require me to work with my hands? Seriously, why?
Instead of telling me that working with my hands was possibly exacerbating my condition, they prescribed a plethora of expensive, toxic drugs, some capable of causing nasty side-effects. Some of the documented possible side-effects were even life threatening. One of these drugs effected my autoimmune system in such a way that it landed me in the emergency room with pneumonia.
What was even worse is that most of these drugs did nothing for my psoriasis. None of them worked long term.
My hands feel great right now. They don’t hurt. I have full movement. There are no infected fissures or cracks on my hands. My life is good. Too bad none of the doctors that treated me for my psoriasis can take any credit for my psoriasis going into remission. In retrospect, they only wasted my time and money.
I’m now left with feeling as though each and every doctor I’ve seen in the past six or seven years is an incompetent quack. That’s how long I was suffering with psoriasis. Not one of these doctors ever told me that working with my hands was making my psoriasis far worse than it needed to be. I even asked if I should find a different line of work, something that doesn’t require me to work with my hands. I was always told that psoriasis was an autoimmune system disease and that it wasn’t caused by anything I was doing.
It will be a long time before I ever trust a doctor again.
Why I walked out on my dentist
I had a dental appointment Wednesday for a cleaning. I signed in at the reception desk and waited to be called. After only a couple of minutes, someone came into the waiting room and called my name. I was given a clipboard along with a stack of papers. I was told that I needed to fill out the forms and then bring them back up to the reception desk when I was done.
The clipboard had a bunch of forms, the type of forms you normally fill out when you first go to see a dentist. I was in two months ago getting a crown installed and they didn’t make me fill out forms. I asked why I needed to fill any of these out. I was told that they now require patients to submit these forms every year and I haven’t filled them out in four years.
Huh?
I went back to my seat and began filling the forms out. I was able to fill out most of the questions on the first page without any difficulty. I’m still a male and my birthday hasn’t changed in the last four years. I then got to the part where I had to enter the information concerning my insurance. This was a problem. Since I’ve been married, I’ve always been on my wife’s medical and dental insurance. Her insurance has always been much better than the crappy insurance offered by any of my former employers. When we first started going to this particular dentist four years ago, to the best of my knowledge, we took paperwork concerning our dental insurance with us and gave the paperwork to them.
I couldn’t even remember the name of our dental insurance, let alone the policy number or the group number. There’s no card that I carry in my wallet. I simply go to the dentist and they tell me what I need to pay in the form of a co-payment and they do the rest. Because I’m using my wife’s insurance, they wanted all of her information too, including her Social Security number. There are probably a lot of husbands that know everything about their wife, including their Social Security number. I’m not one of those husbands. Since my wife is also a patient, they already have all of her information. Then again, they already have all of my information too.
I looked through the rest of the forms. They wanted to know not only all of my dental history, they wanted to know my entire medical history too, including any medications I’m taking. I took the time to give them all this information four years ago and to the best of my knowledge, none of it has changed.
I decided that I wasn’t going to fill these forms out again.
My name was called so I went back up to the reception area. I handed the clipboard to the woman that called my name and I told her was done. She looked at the forms and said that I needed to fill out everything completely. I said I wasn’t going to do that. I said that everything was the same as the last time I filled out the forms. She said that I still needed to fill them out completely. My response to this was to tell her that I would be canceling my appointment. Then again, it was 20 minutes past my appointment, but that wasn’t because of me. I got there early. I put the clipboard down and walked out. I’m never going back.
I refuse to jump through their hoops. There was no valid reason for me to fill out forms that I’ve already filled out. They already posses the information they asked me to provide. If I have to fill out lengthy forms detailing not only my entire dental history, but my entire medical history too, I might as well just go to a new dentist. Who knows, maybe I can find a dentist that doesn’t have Fox News playing in every room.
It turns out my hands really like being unemployed
It turns out out that getting laid off from my job as an electronics tech last month does have at least one positive side effect; The psoriasis on my hands is practically gone.
Granted, there are a few tiny rough spots, but if you compare this photo with the one from June 15, 2009, it’s like night and day.
Of my two hands, my left hand is the only one with any psoriasis. As this photo shows, I have a few spots here and there, but nothing really serious. Nothing that I can’t just put a band-aid on and go forth and have a regular life.
My right hand is completely psoriasis free.
I should point out that I’m not taking any psoriasis medications. No steroid creams, no oral medications, and no hardcore biologic injections. I’m not even seeing a dermatologist, nor will I ever see one again.
I essentially gave up on getting my psoriasis cured.
As far as I can tell, the only thing that has caused my psoriasis to go away is that I’m not working. I’m not subjecting my hands to the trauma of working and using tools. So what’s this mean? Well, I guess it means that I should try to find a job where I don’t work with my hands. A job where I don’t have to use tools. A job where I don’t have to do any soldering.
I’m sure I’ll have no problem doing that, especially considering the current job market.
Raising psoriasis awareness
There recently was a fashion show sponsored by two pharmaceutical companies, Amgen and Wyeth, featuring eight people that have psoriasis. Tim Gunn from Project Runway served as the host.
What was the purpose of the fashion show? From the fashion show’s official website:
The fashion show was the culmination of an awareness campaign designed to help people with plaque psoriasis get more information about managing their disease and feel more confident in their everyday style.
Though I have plaque psoriasis and I’ve blogged quite a bit about having it, I don’t really understand why it’s important to raise awareness about psoriasis. I blog about having it mostly to vent, not to raise awareness. You either have it or you don’t. It’s a genetic disease that affects your autoimmune system. The result is dry, scaly patches on the skin that can bleed and itch. It can be quite painful and quite debilitating. I get it on my hands, but many people get it on the bottom of their feet. I sometimes have a hard time picking things up and doing simply routine things. People who get it on their feet have a hard time walking.
I don’t see how raising awareness about psoriasis changes anything. Raising awareness isn’t going to help me tie my shoes in the morning. It isn’t going to help people with cracked feet walk across the room without experiencing excruciating pain.
I guess I don’t get it.
On the other hand, I see why it’s important to raise awareness with other diseases such as AIDS or breast cancer. People can learn about AIDS and take that knowledge and use it to decide to refrain from activities that raise the risk of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. When you raise the awareness of breast cancer, women learn the importance of early detection, either via the self exam or the mammogram.
With these two examples, awareness literally saves lives. With psoriasis, that’s not the case.
Sometimes giving up is the best option
There was an article published in the Hibbing Daily Tribune about psoriasis and how it’s an autoimmune disease, not something that is “catchy”.
In the article, the reporter spoke to Catie Coman, director of communications for the National Psoriasis Foundation, a national patient advocacy organization. Something Coman said kind of bothered me. The article reads:
She stressed the importance of those with the disease seeking treatment.
“Giving up is not an option,” she said, adding that if a treatment doesn’t work, they should go back to the doctor.
“What works for one person may not work for someone else or may not work after time,” said Coman. She added that in the last several years there has been more research complete and new treatments on the market.
I guess it depends on how you define “giving up”. I’ve come to the realization that there is no cure for this disease and instead of wasting my time, money, and more importantly, my hope, chasing something that doesn’t exist, I had better just come to terms with it.
I have psoriasis and there is no cure. Many of the current treatments for psoriasis not only do not work, they carry the risk of very serious side effects up to and including death.
One of the problems with having psoriasis is that the medical community has decided that it is the dermatologist that should be treating psoriasis even though psoriasis is not a skin disease, but an autoimmune disease. From the same newspaper article:
Psoriasis, which varies in severity and how it responds to treatments, occurs when the immune system sends out faulty signals. The result is red, scaly patches on the skin that can bleed and itch.
Coman said being treated differently or being teased can affect people with the disease emotionally causing shame or embarrassment.
If we know that psoriasis is not a skin disease, but an immune system distorter, why do we insist that dermatologists treat it? I guess I’d feel differently if the treatments for psoriasis consisted of merely creams, lotions, or ointments. Substances that directly treat the skin. The problem I have is when the treatment involves biologic drugs that target the immune system. I don’t think dermatologists should be administering these types of drugs.
They specialize in the skin, not the immune system.
I’ve decided that I will no longer see dermatologists for my psoriasis. Does that mean I’m giving up? Maybe, but I don’t think I have much of a choice.
The (serious) side effects of Enbrel
Since reading yesterday the first-hand account of someone who came down with multiple sclerosis after taking Enbrel for his psoriasis, I’ve been reading up on the drug and all of the hideous side effects associated with the drug. These include:
- Serious infections including TB.
- Nervous system problems, such as multiple sclerosis, seizures, or inflammation of the nerves of the eyes.
- Rare reports of serious blood problems (some fatal).
- Heart failure, including new heart failure or worsening of heart failure you already have.
- Allergic reactions.
- Immune reactions, including a lupus-like syndrome and lymphoma (a type of cancer).
When my dermatologist put me on Enbrel, she told me only about the increased chances of getting infections (including TB) and a higher chance of getting lymphoma. She said nothing about seizures or fatal blood problems. She didn’t say anything about heart failure or multiple sclerosis.
I guess it’s my own fault for not doing more research on Enbrel before taking it. Then again, I never went to medical school. I’m not a board certified dermatologist. I never even took high school chemistry. What do I know about drugs?
When I don’t know something, I defer to the people that do. That includes doctors. Well, not anymore. From now on I am not going to take a drug or a medication until I do my research. I am not going to simply trust a doctor.
Not anymore.
Enbrel can cause multiple sclerosis?
I read this on a psoriasis message board this morning:
I am a 39 year old male and I took Enbrel for two years for moderate psoriasis. I stopped taking it last November (2008). I stopped just because I was tired of injecting myself.
A few weeks ago the skin on my right leg went numb. Like pins and needles. Shortly after my left hand became week.
My general practitioner sent me immediately to the ER and a waiting neurologist. They gave me a barrage of tests (CT, 2 MRIs, a Spinal Tap). The results showed a plaque on my cervical spine. The doctor told me that there is evidence that Enbrel can cause demyelination. Demyelination is the when the immune system attacks the nervous system. This can be MS. I believe that this problem was caused by the Enbrel. To relieve the symptoms they gave me prednisone by iv for five days. That made me so incredibly ill I thought I might die from it. The only good that came from it was that it cleared 99% of my psoriasis temporarily.
I am not a doctor, but I urge anyone taking Embrel to consider the consequences. It clearer skin worth other health issues? Please be wary and weigh all your options.
Not once did my dermatologist speak to me about Enbrel leading to multiple sclerosis. She mentioned that it could lesson my ability to fight off infection. She didn’t say anything about it effecting my nervous system.
It’s all a big crap shoot. Though I’m willing to risk getting an infection, I am not willing to get MS. And it’s not even a sure thing that Enbrel will successfully treat my psoriasis. It very well may turn out to be as worthless as the other infective medications I’ve taken for psoriasis.
I just want to have normal hands that don’t hurt or bleed. Is that asking too much? I want to be able to tie my shoes without getting blood on my shoelaces. I want to be able to use tools at work without causing my hands to crack and bleed.
I took an Enbrel injection earlier this morning. I think it will be my last.
Enbrel
I started taking Enbrel Sunday night for my psoriasis. Like Humira and Raptiva, it’s an injectable. Unlike Raptiva, I don’t have to play junior chemist mixing the medication and loading the syringe. Like Humira, it comes in preloaded, spring-loaded applicators. You press the business end against your leg and press the button. It’s as easy as that.
I think the applicators look sort of like Dr. McCoy’s hyposprays from Star Trek.
I will be taking them twice a week, Sunday night and Thursday morning.
The preloaded applicators have to refrigerated. We’re going out to California next month which means I will be needing to take two of the Enbrel applicators out with me. I don’t really know how to do this. I’m sure TSA will have a problem with me taking a small cooler with ice packs and two does of Enbrel.
Actos and weight gain
My doctor recently put me on a new diabetes medication called Actos. A recent A1C test was higher then is should have been, so he decided I needed to add yet another drug to the drugs I’m taking for diabetes.
My blood sugar levels have been substantially lower since going on the Actos. Every morning this week they’ve been in the 80’s. The problem is that I’m finding it increasing harder to lose weight. I’ve been eating very good all this week. I’ve gone to the gym four times this week, doing 2 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill. It’s not quite jogging, but it’s not quite a leisurely walk either.
I weighed myself this morning and I’ve gained 2 pounds since last Saturday.
I talked to my doctor about this last week. I explained to him that even though I’m doing everything I should be doing, I’m finding it harder and harder to lose weight. I asked him if it could be a combination of the meds I’m now taking. He said that a few of the meds I’m on do make it harder to lose weight, but some of the others I’m on make it easier, so it shouldn’t be a factor.
He also said that I’m getting older and because of this, it’s getting harder to lose weight.
I did some reading on Actos this morning and I discovered that not only does it make some people gain weight, when it’s combined with other diabetes medications such as metformin, a drug I am also taking, the propensity to gain weight is even increased.
I don’t need anything to help me gain weight.
I also read that taking Actos can lead to congestive heart failure. Those are two words I don’t ever want used together, heart and failure.
So what should I do? My first inclination is to stop taking the Actos. Not only do I not want to taking something that might be making it harder for me to lose weight, I don’t want my blood sugar levels to be in the 80’s. The lower your blood sugars levels are, the stronger your appetite is. I don’t need an increased appetite.
I don’t see my doctor again until October. I think I might stop taking the Actos and see what happens in the next few weeks.
68th day on Humira and these are the results [pic]
As this photo of my left hand illustrates, Humira doesn’t seem to be doing anything for my psoriasis. My last injection was on July 5th. I take my next injection on July 19th. I was originally going to run out of Humira on June 21st, but I was able to order a partial shipment of the drug.
I don’t go see my dermatologist till July 20. Hopefully she will have me stop with the Humira and have me try something else. Something that will hopefully work.
I’m actually wondering if my Humira injections were really just placebos in that Humira is supposed to weaken your autoimmune system. That’s kind of the whole point. The negative side to an autoimmune inhibitor is that it makes you highly susceptible to infections and other similar communicable diseases. For example, I came down with pneumonia while taking Raptiva, another autoimmune inhibitor used to treat psoriasis that has since been taken off the market because it kills people.
Sheri came down with a pretty nasty cold last week. Normally I am the one in our relationship who gets the flu and/or colds, while she doesn’t. I figured since I was on Humira, it was only a matter of time before I started sneezing too.
I never got her cold. This is the first time I can remember her getting a cold and me not getting it.
I’m getting to the point where I have just about had it with psoriasis. Though in retrospect I’m glad that I never bothered to learn how to play the guitar or got into making clay pots on one of those spinning wheels, I wish I had pursued a career in something where I didn’t need to use my hands. As luck would have it, I became an electronics technician. Unfortunately, I am required to use my hands quite a bit. Not only are there many days where I just cannot use my hands properly because the psoriasis is so thick, my hands are constantly in pain.
It makes doing things like surface mount soldiering all but impossible. Working with my hands often causes my fingers to bleed.
I just feel as though I am quickly running out of options. I’ve tried ointments, steroids, UV laser treatments, chemotherapy, Raptiva, and now Humira. What’s next? I feel like I’m getting to the end of my options.
43rd day on Humira and these are the results [pic]
I don’t know, something tells me that nobody will be approaching me from Abbott Laboratories, the makers of the psoriasis drug Humira, to be one of their spokesmen. This is the 43rd day of being on the medication and I’m not seeing any results. In fact, my psoriasis may quite possibly be even worse. It’s hard to really tell.
Every day I have psoriasis seems the worse.
I’m scheduled to take my final Humira shot this Sunday, June 21. After that, I have to be seen by my dermatologist before taking any more of the Humira. The problem is, she is all booked up til July 20. I would find it hard to believe that she would continue having me take Humira, but even if she did, I’ll be going at least a month between doses.
That’s probably not good.
Take my advise and don’t ever get a skin related disease. Granted, psoriasis is not a skin disease, but an autoimmune disease, but the medical community insists that you see a dermatologist to treat your psoriasis. The problem with this is that there aren’t that many good and competent dermatologists. Worse, many dermatologists today dedicate a good portion of their practice to elective cosmetic procedures.
This means that if you have a legitimate health problem and you need to be seen by your dermatologist, he or she may be too busy injecting botox into wrinkly foreheads or doing laser hair removal to see you.
Maker of Raptiva issues voluntary withdrawal
I blogged earlier about Raptiva, the psoriasis drug I was taking for a while, was being linked to a rare type of brain infection. Evidently enough people have died because Genentech, the maker of Raptiva, has issued a “voluntary withdrawal” (whatever that means) of the drug.
They have issued a message to doctors to stop proscribing the drug and to contact patients who are still taking Raptiva to arrange for them to start taking something else for their psoriasis. Something that does not infect their brain and kill them.
My sympathies go out to the people who were taking Raptiva and have positive results with it. For me, it was the only thing that ever put my psoriasis into total and full remission. When my former primary care physician screwed me over by withholding a needed referral to continue seeing my dermatologist, I was forced to abruptly stop taking Raptiva.
The resulting flare up was pretty bad. I would not wish that on my worst enemy.
Psoriasis drug Raptiva tied to brain infection
The only drug I’ve ever taken for my psoriasis that actually worked is killing people.
From WebMD:
Feb. 19, 2009 — The FDA today issued a public health advisory about reports of a rare brain infection in people using the psoriasis drug Raptiva.
According to the FDA, there have been three confirmed and one possible case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in people taking Raptiva; three of those people died.
All four had been treated with Raptiva for more than three years. None was taking other treatments that suppress the immune system.
The FDA is reviewing the reports of PML in Raptiva users and says it will take appropriate steps to ensure that Raptiva’s risks do not outweigh its benefits, that patients prescribed Raptiva are clearly informed of PML’s signs and symptoms, and that health care professionals carefully monitor patients on Raptiva and those who have discontinued the drug for any signs of PML.
PML is caused by a virus that affects the central nervous system. PML usually occurs in people whose immune systems have been severely weakened. It leads to an irreversible decline in neurologic function and death.
PML symptoms may include unusual weakness, loss of coordination, changes in vision, difficulty speaking, and personality changes.
Raptiva is a once-weekly injection for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who are candidates for systemic (whole body) therapy or phototherapy. Raptiva suppresses T-cells, which are part of the immune system, to curb psoriasis. Suppressing T-cells increases a patient’s susceptibility to infections.
In October 2008, Raptiva’s label got a “black box” warning — the FDA’s sternest warning — about the risk of life-threatening infections, including PML.
Raptiva is made by Genentech. In an email to WebMD, Genentech spokeswoman Tara Cooper says, “We take the risk of PML very seriously and are working diligently with the FDA to put the right plans in place that will help protect patient safety. We are evaluating all possible approaches to address the risk of PML with Raptiva use, including a risk minimization plan. It is premature to disclose the scope of our plans until we’ve reached a formal agreement on those plans with the FDA.”
I’ve been trying to peace together as much information as I can since reading about this today. The three Raptiva users that died lived in Ireland.
I’m hoping that they don’t connect the deaths to a combination of Raptiva and drinking Guinness. If they do, I think I might be in trouble.
I took Raptiva for a total of seven months. Three months the first round and then four months the second go around. I think I stopped taking it the second time right around the time the FDA issued it’s “black box”. Whatever that means. My dermatologist took me off Raptiva right around that time not because of any brain infection worries, but because it just was not working anymore.
My name is Rick and I have diabetes
A few years ago, I was diagnosed with type II diabetes. I won’t waste any time here trying to explain what the disease is. Instead I’ll just refer you to the American Diabetes Association’s website for an in-depth description of what the disease entails.
It’s not a lot of fun. I have to take medication for it and test my blood at least once a day. I also have to have blood work done every three months followed by a visit to the doctor to have the results of said blood work looked at . My doctor then decides whether or not I need a change in my medication or if things can just remain the same.
When I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I got real hard-core serous about my health. I cut way back on what I ate. I lost a bunch of weight. I got regular exercise. Frankly, the diagnosis scared me to death. I was worried that my feet were going to fall off and that I was going to go completely blind.
Gradually over time, I’ve gotten complacent when it came to my diabetes. I stopped being so fearful of going blind or my appendages falling off. I started eating stuff I shouldn’t. Pretzels, pizza, chips and salsa, etc. I came up with excuses when it came to getting exercise. I put on some weight.
As a result of all this complacency, my glucose levels have gone way up. I had a doctor’s appointment last Tuesday and my A1C test was the worst it’s ever been. It was the wake-up call I think I needed. I’ve been eating much better and I’ve exercised nearly every day since.
In the future, I’m going to be taking my diabetes much more serious.
How my former primary care doctor screwed me over
I thought I had my psoriasis licked. I was taking Raptiva, a medication I inject myself once a week. After taking it for two months, my hands were finally clear of psoriasis. It was in full remission. It felt so good to have normal hands for a change. I felt like a normal human being. No pain, no thick scaly areas, no cracks, no bleeding.
It was great.
All that changed when my former primary care doctor withheld a referral to continue seeing my dermatologist. When he originally referred me to see my dermatologist, he wrote a referral for 20 visits. Unbeknown to me, my insurance company refused to honor the referral for 20 visits. They required a new referral after every four visits. I never knew this. My dermatologist was contacting my doctor after every four visits to get another referral faxed to them.
To the best of my knowledge, the initial referral for 20 visits was still in effect.
When I arrived at the dermatologist’s for my appointment to gauge the success of the Raptiva, the person at the front counter asked me for my referral. She proceeded to tell me about needing a new referral after every four visits and that my doctor said he would no longer issue a referral over the phone. From now on, he would only issue them in person. She told me that someone from my doctor’s office should have contacted me and told me this.
Nobody bothered to tell me.
This meant I could not be seen by my dermatologist. This meant I could not continue taking the Raptiva. I needed another prescription if I wanted to continue taking it. That’s something I could not get without seeing my dermatologist.
I immediately went about looking for new doctor. One that wouldn’t screw me over like that. By the time I found one taking new patients and got an appointment to be seen and got a new referral to see my dermatologist, the psoriasis was back. If anything, it was worse then ever.
I don’t understand why I need a referral to see a dermatologist. Psoriasis is a life long, chronic condition that I will have for the rest of my life. Seeing a dermatologist is something I will be required to do for the rest of my life. My insurance company knows this.
By requiring me to get a referral from my doctor, they are in a sense having him re-diagnose my psoriasis. That’s something he is not qualified to do. If he was skilled and knowledgeable enough to diagnose psoriasis, he would be skilled and knowledgeable enough to treat psoriasis and I would not need to see a dermatologist.
It’s middle-man medicine. Putting my primary care doctor in the process adds absolutely no value. It doesn’t make for better care. All it does is drive the cost up. By requiring me to come in and be seen every time I needed a referral, he gets to charge me a $30 co-pay along with whatever he bills my insurance. It becomes an unnecessary obstacle to receiving quality medical care.
HIV is on the rise
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a report stating the HIV in the United States has increased quite a lot:
There are more new cases of Americans infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, than previously believed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday.
About 56,000 people became infected with HIV in the past year, which translates to about 40 percent more cases than officials had estimated, said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention.
I am not at all surprised. When you look at how many celebrities, professional athletes, and even politicians are having children outside of wedlock, it’s obvious that quite a few people are having unprotected sex.
CDC: More Americans HIV-positive than previously believed [CNN]
Down with the sickness
I woke up yesterday morning not feeling well. I couldn’t stop shivering. No matter how many layers of clothing I put on, I couldn’t stop feeling that I was freezing to death. I took my temperature and I had a slight fever of 100.3 degrees. Sheri talked me into going to the Washington County Hospital Emergency Room and I’m glad she did.
It turns out I have pneumonia.
I’ve never had pneumonia before. What I find strange about it is that I don’t have any pain in my chest. I don’t have a cough. I seemingly have no respiratory problems whatsoever. The chest x-ray told a different story.
The folks over at the Washington County Hospital could not have been any better. I was extremely impressed with the level of care I received from everyone there.
They gave me an I.V. of something when I first got there to put fluids into me. When they diagnosed me as having pneumonia, they gave me a dose of Avelox by I.V. I have to continue taking the Avelox by pill for the next 10 days.
The doctor seemed to think that I got this way from going back on Raptiva for my psoriasis. It’s a highly effective drug for treating psoriasis on your hands or feet, but like most psoriasis medications, it lowers your immune system. I’m supposed to take another injection of Raptiva tonight, but the doctor in the ER told me to skip this week’s dose.
A fist full of Psoriasis
I’m now on week #4 of a new drug for my ongoing battle with psoriasis. It’s called Raptiva. Unlike the other medications I’ve taken, this is something I have to take by injection once a week. Also unlike all the other medications I’ve tried, I think this stuff is actually working.
My psoriasis seems to be better.
This is the first time in a very long time that I can remember having the ability to make a closed fist with either hand. Normally the skin on my fingers is too thick to allow me to close my hands into fists.
I often have trouble using my hands at all.
My feelings about this is somewhat mixed. On one hand (no pun intended) I’m glad that I can bend my fingers and that they aren’t cracked and bleeding. For that I am very thankful. The problem is that Raptiva is extremely expensive. Though I only have to pay a $50 co-pay for a month’s supply, my health insurance is paying over $1,600 a month for me to take Raptiva.
That is a lot of money. I don’t feel comfortable taking such a pricey medication. If I continue to take Raptiva, I worry about my health insurance eventually dropping me.
Yet even more fun with Psoriasis
I woke up this morning and felt like total crap. I’ve been taking the chemotherapy drug Methotrexate for my psoriasis. I take two pills Monday evening, two pills Tuesday morning, and two more pills Tuesday evening. I don’t take any more until the following Monday evening. The side effects of Methotrexate include among other things, anemia. I don’t know if that’s what I have now. I only know that I feel like shit.
I had to call in to work this morning and take 8 hours of personal time. To say this has been frustrating is a complete understatement.
My hands are still a complete mess. They aren’t getting better. I don’t feel or see any improvement. They are still severely cracked and the skin on my fingers is hard and inflexible. Some days at work I can barely hold tools. Yesterday I was installing a ribbon cable into a connector when I noticed red marks on the ribbon cable. I quickly realized it was my own blood. One of the fissures on my hand had begun to bleed.
This actually happens a lot.
I’ve read that the worse place you can get psoriasis is the soles of your feet. When the skin cracks, it becomes painful to walk. I’m not disputing that, but I honestly believe the worse place to get it is on your hands. At least if it was on my feet, I would be wearing socks and shoes. Nobody could see it. I wouldn’t have the never ending fear of bleeding on something. I wouldn’t worry about situations where I am expected to shake someone’s hand. I wouldn’t worry about a sales person reacting with revulsion when they hand me my change. I am just getting extremely tired of it.
I want to stop taking the Methotrexate. It’s not even working. Even if it did work, it’s not a long term, permanent answer to psoriasis. I can not take Methotrexate forever. From what I can tell from reading the literature, it would eventually destroy my liver.
Even more fun with psoriasis
My psoriasis hasn’t gotten any better.
My dermatologist took me off the Soriatane. Monday I start taking a medication called Methotrexate. The cool people call it MTX. It’s a chemotherapy drug. It’s used to treat breast, head and neck, lung, stomach, and esophagus cancers. I didn’t even know you could get head cancer.
It’s been around for awhile, but only recently has it been used to treat severe psoriasis. I guess they noticed psoriasis sufferers who were taking it to treat their head cancer ended up killing two birds with one stone. I would not even think of taking it if the psoriasis wasn’t on my hands.
I has some nasty side effects. Chemotherapy has side effects? Who would have thought? One of the side effects actually made me laugh. No, it wasn’t diarrhea or mouth sores. It was something called poor appetite.
I’ve never had that.
I will take two pills Monday night, two more then following morning, and two more that night. I then wait till the following Monday to take them again.
I don’t think I can drink Guinness on Methotrexate either. Both drugs are extremely hard on the liver. That’s why I have to wait till Monday to start taking Methotrexate. To make sure the Soriatane has fully left my body. If I take the Methotrexate for a long period of time, I will have to have a liver biopsy.
-
Recent Comments
-
siriunsun: Well, Rick.........you know how it is: John McSame just LOOKS the same as lots of people who were born in the United States. And his name is a lot more in line with certain stereotypes that make lots of sheep in this country feel happy and com...
-
Ryan: Matt Damon? Matt Damon!...
-
Rick: Ryan: ‘Cause this here’s America!We play real football not that pussy European shit! Putting the "F" back in Freedom! ht...
-
-
Sören: Yes I am for real ;-) Never thought that my name is that cool. Actually I would rather change my name if I could......
-
-
Books I Am Reading
-
Music I Am Listening To
-
- Kucinich caves on health care reform. Will now vote for the non-public option health care reform bill. http://bit.ly/9t4gNI
- Peter Graves has died - http://bit.ly/blfTde #cnn
- Courage? Really? http://is.gd/axTwj
Follow me @rickrottman