I’m going to digress from my usual post about food to discuss something that has recently become a part of my life. If you’re a regular follower of the blog, you’ll know that I have been undergoing some health issues in the past year – from problems with anemia getting under control as well as losing weight in preparation for family planning.
Since my last health update in June, I started noticing horrible stiffness and pain in the joints of my knees, hands, wrists and ankles. The pain was enough to cause horrible insomnia – sometimes only getting two or three hours of broken sleep at night. The overall fatigue that I was feeling in the earlier part of the year had improved slightly, but I still didn’t have 100 percent of my energy back. Yet, blood tests were all coming back normal.
My primary care doctor decided it was time to test me for some rheumatic diseases – something I’m all too familiar with because of my full-time job as communications manager at the Scleroderma Foundation’s National office. Tests were run to see if I possibly had lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, and I was scheduled to see a rheumatologist.