I have a decent $40 thinner scale. About nine years old. 

I play with it a lot, weigh myself multiple times; it’s usually within a few tenths of a pound. 

I weigh myself before showers & after. No diff. 

Unless I am swelling up. Then I lose a pound in the shower. Maybe two. 

Where does it GO?

In a house with two televisions, three desktop computers, and all manner of modern electronic “always on” energy eaters, I have to tune it out a LOT. I gotta say, though, that when the power is out I revel in the silence.

But I digress.

Pain, now, is my constant companion, like the tinnitus. A low level of pain that sometimes I can ignore, I sometimes cannot. I’ve read some of the rheumatoid folks’ sites and twitters and I know I don’t have it as bad as them, but I don’t look forward to the days when it gets worse … permanently.

As I type this, my hand joints are burning. My left hand is very swollen; I haven’t had enough rest, and stress as well as increased activity has contributed to this feeling. Some days I can feel pain free a while, other days, I can hardly move.

Sometimes I wonder if it ever goes away, or if I just can tune it out a while.

Because of the stupid thing I was in a soft kind of nylon shoe not cast but cast-like thing. And it hurt, because, well, my foot frikkin hurt. And I wasn’t wearing my corrective shoes, just a shoe and this … thing.

And I did some research, and I did some more, and realized it’s been 25 years since I started wearing them. And we know more than we did back then (No offense, Dr Heya!) and heck, the Internet says I can go without.

So I’ve been wearing … REGULAR SHOES for a few weeks now. And aside from the usual psoriatic arthritis pain, I’ve been hurting adjusting to them. But there are such a variety of shoes I can soon start wearing!

But I Need some non-lace good support shoes to wear for a while longer, first. Took me 25 years to get into this position, going to take a while where it doesn’t hurt as much …

I think that about covers it.

Based on how my joints feel I think I need to spend some money on decent supportive shoes. If I can’t find any without laces (damn psoriatic arthritis), then I may have to buy some ugly support shoes. So much for breaking free of corrective footwear*.

Okay, too much Futurama.

But I need to get back into blogging, keeping track of this and me and pain and life and research.

New things – Kelly Young is paying attention to the idea of RA, as always, but also to the more accurate naming of it – a “Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease” here which is awesome.

But us #dxpsa folks are still kinda left out there. Not picking on her, of course, we need to find the time and energy to organize. And what to call it? When I do my “elevator pitch” about what the hell is wrong with me, the arthritis-like symtoms are the most … what’s the word … relatable.

Which sucks since it’s wrong. The exhaustion is often more prominent, or the muscle pain. Right now my fingers are swollen and tingly, and my feet and ankles hurt from some MILD gardening I did today.

And, unlike MOST of the Psoriatic Arthritis patients I know, I don’t even PRESENT with Psoriasis. WTF, man? I have one little patch on my arm, and one on my ass that come and go. I have some kind of bizzaro crap going on under my hair I can’t even begin to describe, but two dermatologists have INSISTED has nothing to do with psoriasis.

If anyone comes up with another name for Psoriatic Arthritis, let me know. Inflam Oh’Damn isn’t taken …

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psoriatic_arthritis

Now the foot itching has begun – damned if you do, damned if you don’t. AUGH. I need a drink.

I’ve been messing with my meds, some intentionally, some not. I’m getting on to the end of my “month” which I define as the last sunday every month. Which is probably stupid but whatever. My smartphone wants me to go on calendar days. How dumb is that?

I’m “due” for my shot Sunday night, but why? I hurt now. I’m tired now. Maybe I should do it Friday night, and do Friday nights from now on. Then at least I can enjoy my weekends instead of grinding through them before I stick myself and go to bed.

PS, yes, pharmacy, I’m ignoring you. I can’t find my co-pay paperwork and I’m not going to talk to you until I do.

“Wow. Isn’t is wonderful having a pain-free day? Good for you!”

Not dead yet, just a bit whelmed.

Leg flared up and hurt unlike the other time I had an infection – maybe I do have psoriasis, you dumbass. The raised redness, the dry flakiness of the skin … yeah. Which went away after rest and stuff.

I finally got around to trying that medicated shampoo from the dermatologist who said I don’t have psoriasis. But I googled it first. It’s a psoriasis med!

PSORIASIS. DO I HAVE IT, MOTHERF***ER?

Need another opinion …

http://understanding-psa.blogspot.com/