Article on whether affects arthritis weather

[kestrell]

Today has been a pretty high arthritis pain day, and none of my over-the-counter drugs seem to be having any effect. I recently signed up for an e-mail alert called MediClime which sends alers for migraine and arthritis days, so obviously there is some sort of connection with weather, although this article
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=14686
seems to rather sit the fence on the subject. I have a theory that my arthritis pain is always the worst a day or two before a major precipitation event. I actually like rainy days because that means I'm less likely to be in pain. Anyway, I've finally made an appointment with a rheumatologist because it turns out that my hearing loss is--most other likely possibilities having been eliminated--due to my rheumatoid arthritis (yes, there is a scientifically-demonstrated link), and thus the hearing loss may be able to be reversed through therapies. I get to find out more on June 30, when I will be undergoing what Alexx and I have taken to calling the "medical extravaganza," during which I will be seeing every specialist I have who is located at Boson Medical. That list includes: a hearing specialist, a rheumatologist, an otolaryngolist, a neurologist and, last but not least, a radiologist for a mammogram.

It's not easy being a medical mystery.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

I definitely feel stiffer and more migrainous when the pressure rises.

Lordy, that medical extravaganza sounds awesome, for values of awesome equal to horrible. I hope you'll set aside some delicious cakes and ale (or mead?) for when you're done. (Are you really visiting a quantum hospital?)

Is your hearing loss due to RA messing around with the mallus, incus and stapes bones? Or is it a side effect from DMDs when you were younger? (I have a friend who was bathed in steriods growing up with RA: she's under 4' and partly deaf due to their side effects.)

It's getting to the point where every new doctor I meet I start off with, "I know it's against the received wisdom, but I'm your next zebra. If there's a 1% chance of it happening, it will happen to me."

[kestrell]

One issue is that the whole RA-hearing loss connection doesn't seem to be very well understood, except that studies indicate that there *is* a connection. Yes, I was on steroid eye medicines for my various eye inflammations from the time I was 3 through twenty or so, when I lost the last of my functional vision. I also used to get injections of steroids directly to the eye during really bad inflammations, but my eye doctor never informed me about any negative effects, and neither did my childhood rhematologist.

However, I never had hearing problems until after I did threee months of oral cortisone in the end of 2009, in relation to my ongoing eye infection and surgeries, and I personally am suspicious that the cortisone had something to do with the hearing issue, as I was sick three times in three months, plus kept losing my voice, which hints at an ear/throat infection to me. My ears-nose-throat doc doesn't seem to hold with this idea, and actually proposed trying to use oral steroids and/or a needle of steroids through the ear to "treat" the possible inflammation. I rejected both ideas because, as I said, I think the cortisone is just as likely to cause problems for me, and when I asked the doc, he admitted that the needle sometimes leaves a hole in the eardrum, as it has to go through the eardrum to deliver the steroids, and sometimes the patient's hearing gets much worse. This ENT is really very cool, but it is clear that he wants to focus on "curing" me, and I have to keep reminding him that 1. I'm more focused on getting a hearing aid ASAP and 2. I've had negative experiences with agressive measures such as steroids, and am unwilling tod o anything that might make the condition worse.

The audiologist who did the hearing test also told me that there can be an auto-immune disease of the ear which is associated with RA.

I will definitely be doing something along the lines of having dessert therapy after the medical extravaganza is over.