Well, I went to see a rheumatoid arthritis specialist yesterday. I came down with Salmonella poisoning about 1 month ago and it triggered what they're calling "Reactive Arthritis". I got over the food poisoning in 3-4 days. It was bad - chills, fever, diarrhoea - the works. I couldn't eat anything for most of that time. I lost 10 pounds in 3 days. Just as I was getting over it I noticed my hands, wrists, knees, and ankles were feeling kind of stiff. For the first couple of days I thought it was just from being bed-ridden for 4 days and not getting any exercise. But, it kept getting worse over the weekend. By Monday morning when I went to get out of bed I felt like I'd stepped in to a bear trap - excruciating pain in my knees and ankles. I couldn't even stand up.
My doctor diagnosed it as Reactive Arthritis triggered by the Salmonella. He put me on Ibuprofen and Tylenol with Codeine to treat the pain and told me to ride it out as it should clear up in a week or two. Well, it didn't. By the end of that week it was worse than ever. Couldn't get in to see the doctor again until after the weekend. He didn't do much except refer me to the specialist I saw yesterday. I'm glad I went to see her. She seemed really knowledgeable about arthritis. She said that it most likely is Reactive Arthritis, but it usually takes at least 6 weeks before it starts to get noticeably better. She looked at the swelling in my fingers, wrists, knees, and ankles and said that I had signs of Rheumatoid Arthritis. She ordered some tests (Anti CCP, RF, and HLA-B27) to diagnose further. I go back in 3 weeks (which is just past the 6-week mark since this started). At that point we'll see whether it is getting better or not and decide on a treatment plan accordingly. At least she was able to answer my questions about what this disease is, what it is doing to my body, and what I can expect in the next few weeks, months, or years.
Right now, the pain medication allows me to function. It doesn't get rid of the pain - it's still there as kind of a constant dull ache, but it keeps it bearable. A couple of times I've deliberately not taken a dose just to see how bad it would get, or if my schedule was off I'd miss a dose because it was in the middle of the night and I was asleep. In those cases the pain got so that I can't raise my arms or even walk very well. I can't even bend my fingers. I hate having to take the pain meds constantly, but without them I can't really function. I hope it starts to improve by my next visit with the specialist.
I have good days and bad days. The last couple of days have been pretty good. I haven't had quite as much stiffness or pain in my legs on waking up in the morning. My hands are still about the same.
During all this my wife has had to take over a lot of the duties I used to do around the house. I feel bad for her. Not only does she have to take care of our 3 kids (which is a full-time job all its own), but she has had to take care of her mom ever since she broke both her thigh bones in separate accidents. Now she's had to take care of me as well. Mixed in with all this we've had a nasty cold spread through the whole family and a couple of snow storms to top it off. I hope I get over this soon for her sake.
