So I don't know who's reading this blog, but for those of you who don't know. In 2000, pretty much out of nowhere I was struck down with psoriatic arthritis - From Wikipedia:
"Psoriatic arthritis is a form of arthritis that affects some people who have psoriasis — a condition that features red patches of skin topped with silvery scales. Most people develop psoriasis first and are later diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, but the joint problems can sometimes begin before skin lesions appear."
Now, my psoriasis didn't set in for years into my disease process. Some people who have psoriasis never have the arthritis and some with the arthritis never develop the skin lesions... My arthritis began in my feet, my toes, ankles are riddled with it, so much so that I had four toes on my left foot reconstructed because they were so twisted by the disease. My right foot is a bit better but someday I'll need the reconstruction on those toes. The arthritis spread to my knees, lower back, spine, a couple ribs that I broke in 1997, it's in my elbows and has effected my fingers and even my jaw.
Since I moved back from Vancouver to my hometown in New Brunswick, I've fared quite well...Usually each year there seemed to be some joint somewhere that flared up to the point of agony and very visible inflammation. Since around 2013, I've just weathered the wear and tear already done by the arthritis. My rheumatologist in Vancouver had told me, "Even if they 'cure' your arthritis, you'll always live with the pain from the damage done"... Not the greatest outlook...
Although recently there was a science story that said that rain did not have any effect on arthritis or joints (some people believe that it does), it's not the rain that effects me, and what is still true, is not that rain is the problem, it's the rain that's the problem, it's the changes in barometric pressure. These are the changes that cause me grief and have caused me the most grief since my arthritis process seemed to have settled down.
Well last month my 'ring' finger began to ache, more precisely, the 'main' knuckle... I dug out my orthotic rings that I had made back in BC and hoped that might help. The orthotic rings, made of sterling silver help to keep the fingers from deforming. My 'index' finger is still somewhat deformed, but nothing compared to the 'S' shape it used to be. But not that 'ring' finger, well I can't even straighten it out, which is a bad sign and it's hot and swollen.
"Psoriatic arthritis is a form of arthritis that affects some people who have psoriasis — a condition that features red patches of skin topped with silvery scales. Most people develop psoriasis first and are later diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, but the joint problems can sometimes begin before skin lesions appear."
Now, my psoriasis didn't set in for years into my disease process. Some people who have psoriasis never have the arthritis and some with the arthritis never develop the skin lesions... My arthritis began in my feet, my toes, ankles are riddled with it, so much so that I had four toes on my left foot reconstructed because they were so twisted by the disease. My right foot is a bit better but someday I'll need the reconstruction on those toes. The arthritis spread to my knees, lower back, spine, a couple ribs that I broke in 1997, it's in my elbows and has effected my fingers and even my jaw.
Since I moved back from Vancouver to my hometown in New Brunswick, I've fared quite well...Usually each year there seemed to be some joint somewhere that flared up to the point of agony and very visible inflammation. Since around 2013, I've just weathered the wear and tear already done by the arthritis. My rheumatologist in Vancouver had told me, "Even if they 'cure' your arthritis, you'll always live with the pain from the damage done"... Not the greatest outlook...
Although recently there was a science story that said that rain did not have any effect on arthritis or joints (some people believe that it does), it's not the rain that effects me, and what is still true, is not that rain is the problem, it's the rain that's the problem, it's the changes in barometric pressure. These are the changes that cause me grief and have caused me the most grief since my arthritis process seemed to have settled down.
Well last month my 'ring' finger began to ache, more precisely, the 'main' knuckle... I dug out my orthotic rings that I had made back in BC and hoped that might help. The orthotic rings, made of sterling silver help to keep the fingers from deforming. My 'index' finger is still somewhat deformed, but nothing compared to the 'S' shape it used to be. But not that 'ring' finger, well I can't even straighten it out, which is a bad sign and it's hot and swollen.
If you know what to look for you can see it in this photo:
The rheumatologist that I was seeing, well we had a falling out. I wont go into why, but let's just leave it at that other doctors and specialists, patients all agree the guy is an asshole. So, my 'nurse/practitioner' sent two referrals to him and he won't see me, the other rheumatologists in the city are full up. So I'll see what my 'nurse/practitioner' can do/recommend. The province of New Brunswick is in desperate need of general practitioners, so much so, that after 5 years on the doctor/patient waiting list, and thousands of other New Brunswickers in the same boat, the government decided that the best thing to do was to let these nurse / practitioners see patients, as essentially they are 'doctors', but just short of being so. They can prescribe meds, take care of basic needs, make referrals. It's the best they can do and I'm grateful to at least have her. I have a 'finger splint', so I'll see what kind of relief I can get from that, along with putting ice on the swollen joint. I hope it's not a sign that my disease process is firing back up, 2016 was probably the worse year I've had health wise and a lot of the extra-curricular activities I was apart of, the radio station/music director job, the Crazy Train radio show and the band I had to let go of because of my health.
In other news, good actually, the music video that was shot by 'Creeker Films' last January is just about finished its editing process. So I'm stoked to see that once it's released. As it's part of a movie, the band has little say on when it'll be released or where. The director, Jared Carney had told me last year that the video would be the trailer for the film 'Kill Scene' which is a full length horror movie made up of several stories, the music video, 'Kill Scene - Zombie Nation' will be like an interlude in the film. Which is pretty dang cool if ya asks me!
So stay tuned for news on that.
The weather's gotten nicer, today we hit +1, we did have a snow squall, but I made it home before then. This Thursday and Friday the temps will reach +6 and +8 and Saturday it'll be mild, but we'll have a snow storm, dumping an estimated 20 some cm of snow, we'll have a couple colder days after that, but then until Jan 23 the daytime highs are all above -6 so I can live with that!
Stay frosty folks!
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