Keeping RA Feet happy
There was a time, not very long ago, when RA Docs paid little attention to RA feet. That has gradually changed.
Author: Mary Mann
Exploring and moving
Do you really want to spend any time walking on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike? Indoors? Sure, it’s great if you live in Watertown, NY and you get socked in with snow. It’s also good if you live in a bad neighborhood. But if you live in Albuquerque( ABQ to us), there is more to be had. Walking with your camera in the great open spaces. I am a professional photographer. I have all the big expensive cameras with the impressive lens. I also have a seriously progressing Rheumatoid Arthritis. I have been lying low with pain and inflammation. Finally, I am ready to move again. Baby steps. Out walking trying to get my legs again, I take an old digital Canon. Fast. Satisfying. Easy. I would never have seen these Sand hill Cranes when walking on a treadmill. I love these guys. Makes my heart happy to see these 4 foot visitors from the North. One of the oldest surviving birds, they mate for life and care for their young for a year. …
Finally, a life
I really thought I was going to die last year. To prepare, I filled out the final wishes form. Next, I made an attempt to simplify my financial records. I said thank you to all the people who have been helping me the last few years. I had a garage sale. What the heck, I thought, I would be the one to get the money if I had one before I died. Just as I thought things were going to get worse, they were already terrible, I started coming out of the methotrexate fog. I could think clearly again. O happy days. At least I had my mind. Both cancers could return. My RA could leave me immobilized. Yet, I would be able to read. My favorite thing to do. Preston and Child’s Pendergast series. Baldacci’s adventures. All the fascinating medical books. I could be happy. The methotrexate injections, Plaquenil, leflunomide and the prednisone finally calmed the ever-present inflammation in my body. This was after 2 years. And it may not last long, but it is …
The challenge of Feet
My rheumatologist sent me to a podiatrist, a foot doctor. Charming man. Once a client of mine. X-rays were ordered, the podiatrist way. Standing. Weight bearing. Three views each. For the third view I climbed steps and was x-rayed at foot level. A much better test than the standard foot x-rays. Results: persistent degenerative changes with in the feet bilaterally. I admit that this was expected. What happens next? My doc said surgery is not the answer. As my feet get worse he feels steroid injections would be helpful. Now it is important that I wear shoes that fit well and offer good support. I should also wear special inserts (Motion Control performance insoles by Prothotics). I got the inserts first. They are so much better than anything you will find at Target or Walmart. They have support for feet in areas that are thinning in RA. He suggested our New Balance store or REI. New Balance was closer. They fitted the inserts and fitted …
Rheumatoid arthritis classification criteria 2010
An international test evaluation for RA. I scored 7 and I am RF negative. 2010 Rheumatoid Arthritis Classification THE 2010 ACR-EULAR CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS Score Target population (Who should be tested?): Patients who have at least 1 joint with definite clinical synovitis (swelling)* with the synovitis not better explained by another disease†Classification criteria for RA (score-based algorithm: add score of categories A – D; a score of ≥6/10 is needed for classification of a patient as having definite RA)‡ A. Joint involvement § 1 large joint¶ 0 2-10 large joints 1 1-3 small joints (with or without involvement of large joints)# 2 4-10 small joints (with or without involvement of large joints) 3 >10 joints (at least 1 small joint)** 5 B. Serology (at least 1 test result is needed for classification)††Negative RF and negative ACPA 0 Low-positive RF or low-positive ACPA 2 High-positive …
How RA Feels
RA starts in the feet as often as in the hands. Mine had started in my feet long before I was given a diagnosis. My feet came to feel like dense bricks. The whole main part of my feet, all those little joints, were swollen and in pain. The three middle toes on each foot were swollen and would have sporadic shooting pains. I had a hard time walking. My hands have almost equal billing. Knuckles are enlarged and always have some degree of swelling. I use a simple rubber square jar opener to do the job of opening jars and bottles. I keep scissors around the house. They make it so much easier to open many things. Symmetry is a hallmark symptom of RA. Left foot and right foot. Middle three toes each side. Any synovial joint in the body can be affected. My left jaw (mandible) joints …
RA Labs
RA labs are important to diagnose RA and to manage drug use.
RA Progress, Thanks to medical research
It was 1965 and time to do his urine test to determine his insulin dose. He was diabetic. He followed procedure carefully. He went into the bathroom and closed the door. He picked up his urinal and proceeded to fill it. He left the bathroom and handed the urinal to the nurse. She took it into the bathroom. She dipped her measuring tape into her patient’s urine. She waited as it changed color. She held it up to the chart. A 2+. She went back to the nurses’ station and drew up the units of regular insulin designated for a 2+ test result. She administered the insulin to her patient. Diabetic management in the 60s. Blood glucose meters had not been invented yet. During that same time, there was not a lot of relief for rheumatoid arthritis. Prednisone was new. Methotrexate for RA and all the biologics were a long way into the future. RA progressed relentlessly until a person was totally crippled and in constant pain. Death would be the only relief. Rheumatoid arthritis is still not an …
How an RA Book Helped
When I was diagnosed with RA, I was too sick to understand the long term implications. I was grateful at the time to put a label on the devastating attack on my body. I love books and have always looked to books for solutions as well as for pleasure. Soon after my diagnosis, I purchased the book, The First Year Rheumatoid Arthritis by M.E.A. McNeil. With RA there is a major shift in your life. What to do? How to cope? What to think? It is overwhelming. This book set me on the right course. It helped me organize. The most important thing it did for me was define my attitude toward RA. I developed my medical team. I understood I was the manager. I started journaling daily and also logging in my symptoms. I researched the drugs I was on and created files for them. I researched lab tests and understood what they meant and kept a log. I asked my doctors questions and received solid answers. I knew the first few years were critical. I knew …
Have you ever felt stranded?
Have you ever felt stranded? Sick …Painfully so…But did not know who to call. Maybe too sick to figure it out. This happens a lot to those of us with autoimmune disorders. I am seeing many doctors, each a specialist who oversees a section of my body. For me, I have a rheumatologist, an oncologist, an endocrinologist, an ENT Doc, an internist and a podiatrist. However, there is no one who looks at the total me. This week I am in trouble. Things just are not working well enough. The protocols that are to be followed when I am in trouble are not working. What do you do when your painful issue does not fall into the neat little slot of a specialty? When you are plainly worried that all is going to hell? Who do you call? Unfortunately, not GHOSTBUSTERS. Here’s what I did. Then I will tell you about my remedy for my next crisis of indecision. It was decided through C-T scans and visits to my endocrinologist and an ENT Doc that …
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