[DSW90049]

I'm sitting up here having the Mother of all Rheumatoid Arthritis Flare-ups- the payback for thinking I could run and play like the other kids and just getting back from two business trips in a row-- 7 out of last 8 days on the road.
Thought I would get away with it without the RA Gods getting pissed, but they got their Pele complex going about 4 to 5 am this morning/ 6 to 7 Chicago time which I'm still on/ and I am the volcano.
Returning from sitting at my pool on a truly fine October Fall-West LA-style, that is- Sunday afternoon, baked on a glass bowl of Afgooey, building on an earlier bowl of Bomb OG Herojuana, my joints feel like the Patriots are making a goal line stand across each one like the taped game I'm watching-having loved the Pats since the 60's as a young man in Boston when my stepmother was their public relations director and guys like Babe Parilli and the usual suspects would eat at my house and take 3 minutes after dinner to try to stand up from their chairs-- I feel like their overstuffed, pain-waracked bodies looked like- and those were still their playing days!
This might be the worst- I might have to roll out the big cannons on the field. A blob of black hash so sticky that it takes ten minutes of rolling around on the ground to get it off my fingers and back into the pipe/bottle. But, putting it up against this mother of all falre-ups, it's like Omaha Beach and Inchon and Fallujiah all wrapped up in Breton Woods and the Tet offensive, in which one of my buds spent seven months pinned down on a mountaintop, unable to even crawl to the shitter for fear of crapping in fear on the way or being perforated by rounds as thick as a good Robusto Habano.
Well, this is it . . . wish me luck . . . I'm goin' in. . . .

[cannadyke]

Originally Posted by DSW90049

having loved the Pats since the 60's as a young man in Boston when my stepmother was their public relations director and guys like Babe Parilli and the usual suspects would eat at my house and take 3 minutes after dinner to try to stand up from their chairs

hehehehe. that was the funniest thing i've heard today :) ! cracked me up.

when i was in hebrew/sunday school (it was @ a community college that i can't remember the name of now--in boston--early 70's), the Pats used to use their football field as their practice field. so, when i was supposed to be paying attention and learning something, i would watch them practice out the window instead.

sorry to hear about the RA though ----my mom has RA, and i know how debilating it can be. hopefully the afgooey/hash combo helps!

[Old_Hippy]

I think I'd look for a different rheumatologist if I were you. Cannabis, especially when enough is ingested to induce peripheral numbness and sleep, is certainly very helpful in making arthritis pain bearable, but a Cortisone shot in the effected joint(s) or systemic Prednisone pills along with some nice hydrocodone (Vicodin, Norco, etc) works a lot quicker and more effectively for me. It also prevents permanent joint damage, which pain control alone does not do.

I have psoriatic arthritis - which is very similar to rheumatoid arthritis except that I also have psoriasis along with the inflammatory form of arthritis (as opposed to osteoarthritis which is caused by joint damage due to wear and tear, etc). I inject 17.5 mg of the chemotherapy drug "methotrexate" each week and 40 mg of Humira bi-weekly, supplemented by an occasional Vicodin, and of course marijuana to control the nausea caused by the methotrexate. It all seems to work very well to keep things stabilized and under control.

[DSW90049]

Old Hippy- thanks for the info. Injected my Humira just this morning. I have had cortisone shots in certain affected joints but cortisone is pretty heavy mojo stuff and too much of it can develop into all kinds of problems, like Addison's Disease, which my Dad got back in the Dark Ages when they gave regular, weekly injections of cortisone for psoriasis because they didn't know any better in those days. Your psoriatic arthritis is a cousin of my RA, which has like 100 different varieties. I injected Methotrexate for about a year but it made me sick each time-- I injected Saturday nights and spent a lot of nauseous Sundays-- it is a chemotherapy agent and a good one, if your system can tolerate it; mine can't.

I have taken Vicodin daily for a long time but in the past year in which I have had my MMJ recc (going for my renewal this afternoon, in fact), I have cut down on Vitamin-V by half and totally cut out Ambien which I used to need to sleep. Experiment with different strains and find what works for you both in daytime and for nightime use, is my great wisdom on this painful subject. My rheumatologist, who I just saw this morning, says I am doing as well managing with what I have as anybody he's ever seen-- it's as good as it gets; not exactly an uplifting thought, but there it is.

Thanks again for the thoughts. btw, I have a scrip for prednisone which I can use for flare-ups like the one I had back when I started this thread. It's a good safety net.

Keep on fighting the good fight!

[Old_Hippy]

It sounds like you have as much or more experience than I do with this type of thing DSW90049, so I won't try to give you advice but I would like to warn you off Arava if you are ever tempted to try it. I was on Arava as a substitute for Methotrexate pills and things went great for about a year or so until my white blood cell count (WBC) went down to 1.18 (or 1180 depending on the units used) and my rheumatologist started to panic and wanted to hospitalize me. Fortunately I was able to dissuade her and my WBC went back up to a more normal range of 4.5 or so. I should note that just prior to this incident I had gone on a diet and lost quite a bit of weight in a relatively short time (25 pounds in three monts), and so this may have had something to do with my problem with Arava (Note: I assume it was the Arava causing the rapid decline in WBC because there are lots of other examples of this, and even some pending lawsuits against the manufacturer.

I had to go off ALL my medications for a couple of months and my joints were so swollen and sore I could barely get around the house and I was covered from head to toe with a red itchy psoriasis rash. My right eye was almost swollen shut from the inflammation, and I still have problems with the vision in my right eye today - even though almost all of the inflammation is gone now that I'm back on Humira/Methotrexate.

I tried going back on Humira alone as a mono-therapy (against my rheumatologist's advice), but it did no good and I even seemed to develop an allergy to Humira when taken alone. Apparently the methotrexate knocks out the immune system enough to prevent the creation of antibodies to the Humira that negate its effects. In any case, because of the double whammy of both a systemic arthritis and psoriasis flareup I really had no choice but to go back on Methotrexate, except this time I went back on methotrexate injections instead of pills and it made all the difference in the world. The pills made me nauseous all the time, the injections only make me nauseous for the first day or two after the injection - which is something I can handle (I carry a large baggy for use as a "vomit bag" if I have to leave the house). I used to always wake up in the morning after my injection because I needed to vomit - Yuk, what a way to wake up! Now, thanks to medical marijuana I take a little cannabis (ingested orally) an hour or two before my injection, and then another tablespoon or so (depending on whether I'm taking powered marijuana, keif, or powered hash) just before bedtime and I usually have no problem at all in the morning. I wake up refreshed and without any nausea, so you might want to give injectable methotrexate another try since cannabis relieves most of the symptoms related to nausea. Unfortunately, the first time I was on methotrexate I didn't have the benefit of cannabis.

I've sometimes wondered about ingesting regular hash like Erkel or MK-Ultra or any nice sticky (non-powerable) hash but I'm not sure that would work as well as powered keif/hash/cannabis and it's too expensive to waste - although ingesting it instead of inhaling it is already quite a waste I suppose.

Anyhow, best of luck to you. It really is nice to be able to take enough cannabis once in awhile to just lie down and go into a sort of voluntary self induced "coma" (for lack of a better word. :smile2: ) and be able to forget about my ailments. Ah sweet Morpheus.

P.S.
Just as a matter of interest, it was necessary for me to have cataract surgery on both eyes at age 49, which I attribute to all the cortisone injections I've had in my knees (I've had four knee operations - two on each knee) and other joints over the years, as well as all the topical prednisone creams and ointments and prednisone "dose packs" I've taken over the years, so your point about the dangers of cortisone and prednisone are well taken.

P.P.S.
I told my rheumatologist about my medical marijuana use even before I had "permission" from the government to possess it, and she was very supportive. She was also very supportive about helping get me signed up for medical marijuana (although she doesn't have the certification needed to authorize the permits herself). She is always interested in seeing the cannabis sublingual gel "meditabs" I think they're called, and the candies and things I sometimes bring in to show her during my bi-monthly visits to have my blood work done. On my next visit I'm going to show her some of the neat little red cannabis laced Valentines day "hearts" I purchased at my local caregiver recently. :smile2:

P.P.P.S.
Although inhaling cannabis smoke or vapor provides temporary relief from nausea and the psychotropic effects are more pleasant than from ingesting cannabis, I find that ingesting cannabis works far better and lasts longer than inhaled cannabis for both nausea and pain relief. In fact, for pain relief it's virtually impossible for me to get enough THC into my system by inhalation - even with the new "ear wax" or "budda." How do others use cannabis for these purposes I wonder?

I have been diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis too, and I am yet to meet anyone else on WT that also suffers from this very specialized disease. I got the psoriasis legions first when I was 21 all over my body, and then at 42 my lesions went away and this horrible arthritis began. They say I am a text book example for PA.

I have been through all of the light boxes and pills, cortizone shots, 5+ joint surgeries (hips and shoulders mainly so far). I just left my job because of the stress levels. The PA exasberated from it, so I really had no choice. Nothing is worth your health. Currently I am not taking any perscriptions for this, but I know I am putting off the inevitable. MMJ continues to help me stave off meds, and I will continue to try this approach until I have no choice.

I am not too happy with my rheumatologist , so if any one has other recommendations I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

Best,
pic4daze

[Old_Hippy]

Originally Posted by pic4daze

I just left my job because of the stress levels.

I think I know exactly what you mean pic4daze, because the same thing happened to me around five years ago - I had to quit my job because I could no longer do the work because it required long periods of intense concentration, and as I'm sure you know it's impossible to concentrate when your entire body aches and all you want to do is go home and crawl into bed. It's also impossible to explain your reasons to people because (except for the psoriasis lesions in the case of psoriatic arthritis) non of the inner symptoms are visible, and those are the worst as you probably found out when the arthritis end of psoriatic arthritis finally struck.

Perhaps we could get together sometime and commiserate with each other? Also, if you live anywhere near Glendale, California I have a recommendation for an excellent rheumatologist who actually cares about her patients rather than making as much money as possible, but I hesitate to post her name on this forum because I do not have her permission to do so; however, she happens to be the only female rheumatologist in Glendale now that Dr. Christine Evelyn has retired so she shouldn't be hard to locate - and she is not unpleasant to look at either - ha! I treat my rheumatologist with the greatest respect as the professional she is, but she is also the sexiest rheumatologist you are ever likely to encounter, har, har.

I don't have enough posts yet to send you a PM, but I have created an email address just for you that you can use to send me email if you wish. I will however disable this email address if it starts getting spammed. You (or anyone) can email me at: pic4daze@spamex.com