#polyarthritis

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Me when my progressive disability progresses:

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I feel like my disability is taking art away from me, and it both saddens and enrages me.

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I am cool, I make great points, I have arthritis in my joints

(Read this to the tune of “She is beauty, she is grace…”)

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Since the move in with my parents, I have since got an appointment scheduled for both primary care and rheumatology!

I'm hoping to get a new MRI for my back since the last one was done in 2021, and a recent x-ray has shown changes in my lumbar since then.

Here's to hoping the initial appointments go well!

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Got some adaptive equipment ordered for myself after my OT eval yesterday!

I ordered the following:

A set of built up/adaptive utensils

A rocker knife

A one handed cutting board

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I saw a new specialist on Thursday, specifically a PM&R doctor, or a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation doctor, aka a Physiatrist.

It went so well!! She was wonderful, listened to me, asked appropriate clarifying questions, talked to me not at me, etc!

My fave thing to come out of it was an OT referral - which I have had before, but it's different this time. She wrote it specifically for "chronic pain and adaptive equipment." The adaptive equipment part really has me excited, because she added that because I mentioned physically having trouble with iADLs a lot, such as cooking... in part because of the things you use to do them being hard for my body to use! :0 So I'm super hyped about having a referral to talk to someone about adaptive tools for said activities!!! :D

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Gotta love being at work for an 8.5 hour day when you’re an 8/10 on the pain scale 😭

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What to expect from a PM&R doctor/Physiatrist?

One thing that came from my recent annual rheumatologist appointment on Friday, was a referral to a PM&R (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) doctor. She suggested I see one, and I agreed to do so, so she made the referral.

I have no idea what to expect from a consult or seeing them in general! Like, I know it will be to help manage my symptoms and whatnot from physical disability.

So, for anyone who has experience with this type of physician: What should I possibly expect from a visit and future visits going forward?

For context, my main diagnoses are inflammatory arthritis, and also hypermobility. I deal with near constant chronic pain in most all of my joints, and struggle to stand/walk for prolonged periods of time unassisted (aka without my crutch or cane) without drastically increasing my pain level and affecting my mobility. So I'd imagine it'd be about managing and treating those things and other related symptoms/impairments.