Health Update

[OnlySunshine]

Thank you for all your support and prayers.  It's been a week since I was laid off and I'm happy to report that I've accepted my fate and actually relieved to be away from the highly stressful environment.  Now that I'm not constantly worrying about the schedule, I have the freedom to put my energy into my recovery and I've been getting a lot of rest this week.

Yesterday, I saw my rheumatologist to go over the last blood work results and she discussed the possibility of an autoimmune connective tissue disease.  The most alarming problem in my lab work was the positive ANA with homogeneous pattern which is suggestive of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).  She thinks that I may have fibromyalgia on top of it since the muscle relaxer she gave me specifically for that problem is working.  Because I'm having symptoms with a positive ANA, she said we need to treat it as if I do have an autoimmune disorder since it runs in my family (my grandmother and aunt both have rheumatoid arthritis but my symptoms are much more suggestive of lupus).  I do not have a definitive diagnosis of lupus yet but it takes a while for an official diagnosis.  She gave me a prescription for Plaquenil which I have to take twice daily with meals.  It is an antimalarial drug but is also used as a DMARD (disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug).  It takes 1-2 months to see results but 6 months to a year to get the full effect.  I will see her again in a month to review my progress and I'm supposed to get an eye exam since it can rarely cause eye problems.  I'm super thankful to have such a helpful doctor and I'm hoping this medication will improve my symptoms and allow me to function without so much fatigue.  I will most likely still have some fatigue since it is a symptom of fibromyalgia.  Regardless, any improvement is worth it.