Chronic Pain & C-Reactive Proteins...

[spook]

Hey guys, for those of you that are fortunate enough or not to know what your CRP is, it is the blood measurement of how high your levels of inflammation are in your veins and joints.

For those that live with this, or with loved ones dealing with this path in life, do you find food, meds or allergies trigger yours? How do you keep yours down?

Being 'blessed' with 4 types of arthritis, the medications are not helping and as you well know, the chronic pain is a pathway that none of us choose. It is mentally draining and consumes your life, those that love you, becoming forgetful, brain fog and just plain old tired of life.

Share your secrets, ask questions, and perhaps we can all answer questions and how they effect you.
Thank you so much!

 

[StupidBird]

Too true! My pain level is seemingly related (like how am I gonna prove it?) to food allergies & sensitivities to a very long list of foods, chemicals, air borne stuff. Weather changes. Air pollution. Hormone cycle. How good is the CRP results if I'm only tested when I feel good enough to drag myself to the doc? Allergic to meds...

Anyway, what I find helps is
#1 not going to doom and gloom, rant and whine websites, people, etc. I'm depressed enough!
#2 DIET. My biggest downfall. So hard to totally eliminate all traces of what I know sets me off.
#3 Exercise. Do the ^&*(*!@! program that's working every single day, as many times as prescribed through the day. No matter what.
#4 Outdoors. No matter the weather, 20 minutes per day. Even if I just sit there staring off into space, wearing the particulates mask n90, whatever.
#5 joining BYC, getting birds... weird cheep therapy

 

[spook]

LOL Thanks stupid bird (weird saying that- ha ha) I have my C-RP done every 5 weeks when I go for biologic IV. I agree with keeping above the depression, and remembering that the depression is from being fatiqued, a tired that is beyond want. I personally would be going 24/7 and used to, until the psoriasis reared its ugly head after a 7 year remission...that was 15 years ago. Either way, I have been looking closer at my diet, and nothing has changed. I eat poultry 5 out of 7 days, knowing that beef will charge my crps up through the roof. Hormones can be a huge thing, I have fewer hormones then most women, got those removed a while back.

I agree with the doom and gloom, I just had the doc tell me to get rid of the birds...you can guess what I told him, yes, but then I would not have anything to go out of the house for. And then he said I need to lay down 2 times a day for atleast a couple hours each, I again informed him that it was not going to happen, I refuse to weaken, refuse watch life, I want to live, laugh and I may not be springy, but dang it, I need my cheap theropy! (giggle)

There is a time to give in, and a time to fight, knowing when is not an exact science!
Thanks for your response!!!

 

[StupidBird]

I chose "StupidBird" because that's all I seemed to be muttering for the first few months I had the chickies...

Keep fighting for a treatment that works, and don't let 'em get fixated on diagnosises. (I need to follow my own advice more.)

Well, along the lines of the diagnosis-of-the-month, other little medical stuff that unexpectedly helped:
Support Stockings - not the knee high, cuts into the bad vein right behind the knee, but thigh highs. I keep socks on over top to save 'em from ruining. Got Varicose veins and a prescrip, but also found on the web how it helps with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue and such. Now I can really tell my pain and energy level - which parts are caused by circulation probs - when I skip wearing the stockings.

I found a thread elsewhere about psoriasis being mixed up with scabies - the photos sure looked like DH's skin. I'm gonna have him put some poultry dust on it the next time it flares up. What do you think? I know a few folks with horrid problems with psoriasis, so you have my heartfelt hugs.

I didn't get rid of the pets when the allergist said either, told them "I'll just out live them". Down to one cat, but I can tell now that I am sensitive to dogs and cats - hadn't quite believed that. And I won't get rid of the chickens - I haven't been this active in years, all because I have to get up & out at dawn & dark to shut the door and put up the feed, and check on them during the day.

I cruise here on BYC more than the news sites, its much more upbeat! And educational.

I am sensitive to some stores chicken; don't know why. I suspect it is the anti bacterial washes, but not enough pattern to see. I stick to brands with no "broth" or other additives, just water, and not from certain stores. I got a grass fed steer (well, half is left) in the freezer and that helps as well as eating MY OWN EGGS.

Pardon my ignorance, what is a "biologic IV"? Is that like B12 shots? I was on that for awhile but got switched to oral.

Gosh, I'm sure chatty today! Stuck on the couch with a nasty head cold and its monsoon week here. sorry