What Did the Rheumatologist Say…

No, it’s not the start of one of my dad jokes, this week I had a Rheumatology appointment with Doctor L. Boy did I have a looong list to go through with him…

I haven’t seen Dr L for 4 months and in that time I’d started my methotrexate, lost all the swelling in my joints, slowly phased back into work, and started running again. 

The main concern I wanted to address was the crappy day (not swearing today although fucking shitty day is what I really wanted to say) I had to endure after I take the methotrexate. Every Thursday I take that wonderful drug but by Friday I’m not calling it wonderful. I call it something far more dark and negative (see previous brackets!) Friday mornings I’m woken by a headache, sit on the toilet most of the morning with dio.. dhia.. diree.. runny poos, my body feels sluggish, I feel like I’m coming down with the ‘flu and all I can do is sleep. I also get grouchy (wouldn’t you?) and I guess I’m not great company either. Did I ever tell you my wife has the patience of a Saint? 

Most of the effects wear off by dinner time but I’m then left with a ravenous hunger that only junk food can satisfy. What a great excuse to eat bucket loads of chocolate and Haribo Sour Mix!

Doctor L sat with a frown on his face all through my litany. Once I’d finished he expressed his concern that I was still getting these side effects as apparently my body should have gotten used to the methotrexate within a few weeks – I’ve been on it for more than four months with no let up. So he recommended that I reduce my tablets to six per week as opposed to the eight I normally take. And to increase my folic acid to one every day instead of one a week. I have to say I wasn’t very sure about taking less methotrexate. What if it’s not enough and I get a return of all my problems? I really really REALLY don’t want to go back there. Really. Doctor L assured me that hopefully six should be enough now that methotrexate has the ReA under control. Oh God please let it be enough said I. So down to six I go…

I then went on to discuss my running. I’m trying to train for the Ultra Tour of Edinburgh in October but the past couple of weeks have brought up some problems and I’m not too happy about them. The first is calf pain. No, I’ve not been beating up baby cows. After my long runs on Sundays, I get 2 days pain free and when I go running on the Wednesday I’m hit with solid pain in both calves that would make most people not run at all. Me? I’ve been running through it hoping it’ll go away. Tube. Nothing seems to cure it. I’ve even been rolling a tennis ball under them as a massage therapy. The dog isn’t too happy about this though. She sits and glares at me with a murderous look (well it is her ball after all!). And this past week I’ve been plagued by pain in my right knee. I panicked as soon as I first felt it and had to cut a long run short, but I did have to run a mile or so through the pain until I got a signal on my phone though (shouldn’t I have walked that mile? Nope. Tube.)
So, should I be doing this run? According to doctor L I shouldn’t be running at all. No one with arthritis should run as it’s really bad for knee and hip joints long term. People need to stop telling me what I can’t do, it’s doesn’t work. I could feel my resolve for running strengthening. Tube. But this time I fought against that urge to prove I could do it. This is my health we’re now talking about, my ability to walk when I’m old. I guess that might be important? So I told him I’d love to take his advise but that I might not listen too much and still do the Ultra. His reply? Not what I expected. He was completely understanding! I think it must have been some kind of psychological trick. He told me that I could do the run as long as it was my last big run. And that maybe I could continue with smaller races like 5k, 10k and half marathons. And then he said I should maybe hang up my trainers and buy a bike instead. Naw mate, too far.

At home I had to have a big long talk to myself about my running. Balance up the old pros and cons. I ended up arguing with myself so I decided to talk to someone who I’d (maybe) listen to. My wife. Gayle already thinks I shouldn’t be running as much so she was quite happy to have this discussion. I opened my mind and unchained my heart. And finally decided to NOT run the Ultra this year. It was a weird feeling. I wanted to cry because I wasn’t going to complete this challenge but at the same time I was being completely honest with myself and listening to my body and to reason. I really hate reason. It makes too much bloody sense. I decided to make a deal with reason so, as long as the knee pain goes away, I am going to run the Scottish Half Marathon on the 24th of September. I’ll definitely be blogging about that!

So here I am. It’s Friday and I only took six methotrexate pills last night and I’ve been taking folic acid every day. Did I feel any better this morning? Yes actually, I did. No headache, mild diarrhoea (I looked up the dictionary this time), and I’ve only felt a wee bit crappy. I have been really tired this afternoon though but wow! I can deal with that. It’s like I’ve gained a whole new day of the week! Hopefully I’ll be even better next week with the increase of folic acid (this helps to counteract some of the side effects of methotrexate). I’m gutted about the ultra marathon but I can still run. That’s important to me.
Onwards and upwards people!

• running