Saturday 14 July 2012

Visit to Rheumatology

Visit to Rheumatology


It was a regular appointment to the rheumatologist at Royal Free Hospital. My consultant was busy so I usually see another one, however she does not work on the Wednesday anymore so I saw another Doctor. She was lovely and listened well and took notes. Probably the annoying thing for both of us was that she did not have my notes so she didn't have a wider picture of what was going on with me and my Gastroparesis etc...

I have been taking hydroxychloroquine for my Lupus, Arthralgia and joint pains. They have helped over time, however I still experience strong joint pains every day, she told me to continue on taking hydroxychloroquine. She also suggested that I should try steroids. Little did she know that I had already tried that and let me tell you that was one of the worst weeks of my life! They did not help at all in fact the increased my symptoms and made me feel crappy the whole week. However on the plus side it did increase my weight by 3kg which was much needed. When she heard this she scrapped the idea.
I also spoke to her about my possible connective tissue disorder and my high ANA (Anti-Nuclear Antibodies) I wanted to know what type of connective tissue disorder it might be, unfortunately she did not have the answer for it. So I asked her if there were any further test they could do to investigate this further. She said my case quite complicated some test come positive and other come negative so she will repeat the tests. Furthermore, she said that most of times it’s very difficult to pin point what it is. Naming it probable tissue disorder is a diagnosis in its self. And thinking about it know I believe it to be true; but there always a part of me that wants to know what it is exactly so I can put my mind at rest (lol).
Additionally, I spoke to her about my tendon of my left foot hurts a lot and I find it difficult to walk on. I had previously been transferred to Physiotherapy by my former rheumatologist, however with that it still had not improved. (Talking about physio I had missed and appointment with them due to my exams; so they had removed me from there list which added another headache to the very busy day!) The consultant suggested that I should get and ultrasound of my foot and have a steroid injection done to help the pain. Fingers crossed that steroids help this at least. She also referred back to physiotherapy.
After I finished with the rheumatologist I went to register myself with physiotherapy. I then went to book my ultrasound and went to get my bloods done. They have added extra blood rooms at Royal Free Hospital which has immensely helped the waiting time. I’m not squeamish about having blood tests done because to be honest I’m used to them now since I get them done a lot, it has become a norm. However because on this day I could not tolerate my feeds so I had less feeds. This made it hard for the blood test because blood was not coming out. She squeezed my arm hard and it started to come out; but very, very slowly drop by drop.
After such a hectic day I came home and just crashed on to my bed and fell asleep.

Hafsa x

1 comment:

  1. You're brave Hafsa
    my thoughts are with you <3 x

    ReplyDelete

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