Needlework

Scorecard(0-10)
Legs:0
Shoulders:1
Wrists & Thumbs:0
Ankles & Toes:0
Nausea:2
Lethargy: 0

I attended an arthritis clinic yesterday. I explained that although my other joints had responded quite well to the sulfasalazine and/or the diclonfenac the problem with my shoulders remained, sometimes quite acutely. I wondered if we might be looking at two separate issues: an auto immune problem affecting my legs and a possible mechanical problem with the shoulders, which might be revealed under some form of imaging.

I probably made my pitch in the wrong place because the best the clinic could offer was another steroid injection and refer possible imaging further up the chain. I was happy to accept the injection as the one I had in January had given me a full two weeks of complete relief and several weeks of relief in my knee. They injected my right shoulder. I assume they can only treat one site at a time.

I also mentioned the side effects of the sulfasalazine but it looks like there's not a lot we do there. There is the possibility that these will abate when my system gets used to the drug.

I didn't take the mid day or evening dose of diclonfenac yesterday to see if the steroid injection alone would reduce the inflammation and discomfort. I guess something is working because I don't have the pain levels I'd normally associate with dropping the diclo. It hasn't been the panacea that the January injection proved to be when I hoppled into the hospital and skipped out but everything is quite manageable today. I got a good night's sleep, something that has eluded me for several months as I haven't been able to rest on any one shoulder for any length of time. And if I sleep on my back, my wife tells me, I snore like an elephant being strangled by a pride of incompetent lions. An arrangement which she quickly terminates.

So it's difficult to know what to make of things today. Maybe the injection helped. Maybe the sulfasalazine is beginning to work. Too early to tell.

In the meantime, soldier on!

On the positive front I was quite busy yesterday from about 7am to 10pm and got through without feeling fatigued or a working nap! So maybe the lethargy is just a function of not doing a lot.