Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Yeast and Arthritis--who knew?

So, I've been struggling with joint pain the last couple of months--until Sunday night, it was nothing devastating, just a little sore and stiff in the hands, along with my usual plantar fasciitis.  Until Saturday, when the elbow that hurt for seven straight months (and then stopped hurting, though the range of motion never returned) started hurting again.  Biggly.  By Sunday night, it hurt so bad I only managed to sleep for two hours, and those weren't in a row.

As it turns out, I spent more time Sunday night crying than I did sleeping.  So I made a doctor's appointment Monday morning.  My usual doc is out (which isn't a bad thing, I guess--she is the lady who missed the mass back in January), so I saw another in the office. 

Before leaving for the appointment, I popped a couple ibuoprofen.  That halved the pain in less than an hour.  Wish I'd taken that rather than the oxycodone the night before.  The oxy did nothing.

I requested a few blood tests to look for things like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.  They called back this morning--negative on all but the RA, which came back slightly elevated.  They recommended I see a rheumatologist. 

Being me, I decided to read up on the RA test, see what, exactly, it does.  Imagine my surprise when every link that came up mentioned a relationship between untreated Candida and RA.  See, I've been battling a yeast for a few months now, without a lot of success.  Figured it was a diabetes thing.  Honestly, I haven't really been applying myself--it's not a severe infection, so I tend to use the skin cream when it's irritating me, and then slack off when the symptoms subside.  I know, stupid.

So now I'm left wondering--should I see the rheumatologist, or should I go back to my primary care and be tested for the candida and get an oral med to knock it out?  Money is, of course, always an issue--if I go back to my primary care and they say there's no yeast, then I still have to cough up the 25 bucks for that office visit plus the 35 bucks for the rheumatologist.  Plus I have to have a thoracic spine x-ray next week.  And I already coughed up one copay this week.  Urgh.

On a not at all bright side, no joy on the Foreign Service gig for hubby.  He passed the exam, no trouble, but the PNQs hung him up.  Not unusual, I guess, seems most have to go through this 2-3 times.  We're looking at learning a foreign language to improve his points.  Something hyper-super-critical like Arabic, Hindi, or the like.  He's liking Russian, but that's only critical, not super-critical.  Fewer points.  Our boy is pretty seriously bummed--he wants out of this neighborhood and away from these toxic, animal-killing kids as soon as humanly possible.  I don't blame him.

Blowing the diet, gaining weight.  I need to stop.  Right now.  I see it happening, and I need to turn it around.  I can't go back to the constant back pain and misery.  Please.

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