Recovering from Arthritis

[Nienna]

Thank you for sharing this, Claudia. It's really great that you are finding out about what affects you and how to do what needs to be done to make it better. Finding the connection with the not feeling safe and what is causing your shoulder lock-up is huge, or so I think. And by sharing this, it not only is helping you, but helping other who read it and can learn from it in order to help themselves.

A to you and I hope you will share more as things progress.

 

[Chu]

That's wonderful, Claudia! I'm very happy for you. You can do this! I couldn't agree more with Nienna.

Thank you for the book recommendation. There is another on you might like: Dr. Sarno, Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection (pretty sure you can find some of his books in Spanish). He has an interesting take, similar to what you wrote. He talks about autoimmune issues too, and his premise is basically that the pain and ach
e is often a distraction your brain uses to have you busy/preoccupied, instead of letting you acknowledge and process fear and anxiety. I'm simplifying it, but maybe you find him interesting too.

You are doing a great job!

 

[ClaudiaYG]

Thank you Nienna and Chu!

Bessel Van Der Kolk's book talks about how the body stores traumatic experiences, explains what happens in the brain, how it is altered, how certain areas are turned off, talks a lot about neuroscience and recommends methods to help overcome trauma such as Neurofeedback, yoga, EMDR, systemic therapy, etc.

 

[ClaudiaYG]

A small update.
Three weeks ago I started taking DHEA 25 mg twice a day, after almost a week the pain in my hips, pelvis and knees was gone. The pain has not returned.
If I walk a lot, my feet start to hurt and my knees a little bit, but I think it is because of the shoes, I am already looking for a more suitable type of shoe for me.

My right shoulder moves a little more, the most difficult thing is the internal and external rotations but little by little I am moving it.
I continue to see the osteopath every 21 days and he is confident that I can regain 70% or 80% mobility and there would be no need for surgery. He says that I must be constant, disciplined with exercise and so I am doing.
On Thursday I start going to the pool to help my body and especially my shoulder.

In my yoga practice I continue to do the exercises with the help of my teacher, she tells me to move it even if it is only a few centimeters.

When I manage to do the exercises without pain and with more mobility I become sensitive and I feel like crying. It is not a cry of sadness, it is a cry of achievement, of recognition of myself.
And it's not just the shoulder, the shoulder is just showing me what I need to see from me.

Sometimes I dream that my shoulder recovers and last night I dreamt that I was telling my husband, "Look, I can move my shoulder, I can do my hair.

Sometimes before I sleep I make my prayers and ask my ancestors of good life and the divine cosmic mind to give me a sign of how to help my shoulder and my body and I have received the answer in my dreams and the answer is clear to me, is to relax, do things you like, be less afraid. Dreams are always happy scenes, dancing, enjoying.

 

[ClaudiaYG]

Hello, At the beginning of March I got a urinary infection, the first antibiotic given to me caused vertigo and had to suspend it after 3 days, it did remove the symptoms, however, a few weeks after I had pain and inflammation in my knees, hips, pelvis and legs, the urinary infection gave me reactive arthritis, I was prescribed another antibiotic which was injected for 7 days and the joint pain started to go down.

At the end of the treatment I repeated the urine culture, it came out still positive but the doctor did not want to prescribe more antibiotics and suggested d-mannose, NAC and ALA for two months to see if my body could get rid of the infection, after this period I repeated the urine culture again and fortunately it came out negative.

On the other hand I did everything possible to avoid surgery on my right shoulder, but after having another MRI it is clear that I need a shoulder prosthesis.

I have already started look at traumatologists who specialize in shoulder surgery and one of them told me that the prosthesis I need is called a reverse prosthesis because according to him I do not have rotator cuff tendons, on Monday I'll see another one searching for a second opinion.

It should be noted that I have no pain at all, I sleep well, I do all my daily activities, that do not involve raising my arm, without pain.
A few months ago I did the blood tests for arthritis and they came out altered, however I do not have much pain.

One functional doctor recommended 10 sessions of intravenous ozone therapy which I finished on Wednesday November 24 and I feel much better, lighter, more awake, in good spirits, without inflammation or pain.
I am currently on 4.5 mg of Naltrexone since May.

Since I was told that I need a shoulder prosthesis I have been thinking about going back to see a rheumatologist since I have a degree of deformity in my hands and feet, I am very afraid that my hands and feet would continue to deform but I am also afraid of the side effects of the treatments that rheumatologists prescribe because the medication is so strong, previously I took hydroxychloroquine with no negative side effects at all.

Emotionally I have been working on my guilt, because sometimes I think: how did I get to the point of needing a shoulder prosthesis? to the point my hands and feet have deformed? What did I do wrong or what didn't I do? What else can I do? Had I gone to the rheumatologist, could all this have been avoided?

I've' also been working on accepting my body and my new reality, respecting my pace and limitations, asking for help and letting myself be helped, not fighting with my body.

I'm not going to lie, sometimes I feel sad about the whole situation.
Thanks for reading.

 

[Gaby]

A second opinion from someone who is not a surgeon, i.e. a rheumatologist, will be very valuable to see if the prosthesis is really needed.

I think a prescription for hydroxychloroquine for your RA will be very handy, not only to avoid further deformations and joint loss, but to protect you from spike protein variants. Kind of like a blessing in disguise: you're the only one whom one can really prescribe hydroxychloroquine without legal issues. A sad world indeed. Hydroxychloroquine is really a wonder drug, you'll have healthier cholesterol and glycated hemoglobin as well. As it is, practically only people with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus can take it.

 

[ClaudiaYG]

Today I saw the second traumatologist and his suggestion is to do an arthroscopy which is by means of a camera and small incisions to enter and take a closer look at the shoulder, do some joint cleaning and inject hyaluronic acid and move the entire shoulder under anesthesia.

The procedure lasts about 45 minutes and is ambulatory. After that it is 20 days of rehabilitation and we will see him again after a month.

What he wants is before putting a prosthesis, which is something bigger, to really see how everything is inside and have a more accurate picture. He also wants to see if I can recover more range of motion.

The truth is that I did not expect this answer from the doctor, since the other ones were in favor of immediatelly installing the prosthesis, which I do not doubt I need, but at least this extra step is to be really sure of what type of prosthesis I need and to see if we can delay it, I also think because I told him that I do not have any pain.

Daily I pray and ask for guidance, clarity, signs on this important issue and I do not know if this response from the traumatologist was an answer to my prayers and those of others! Thank you.

 

[irjO]

What he wants is before putting a prosthesis, which is something bigger, to really see how everything is inside and have a more accurate picture. He also wants to see if I can recover more range of motion.

I would assume that a doctor will indeed be precarious and do this in the first place, but as you pointed out that’s not the case with many doctors out there… I’m glad that you found a doctor who is giving you this option first.

which I do not doubt I need, but at least this extra step is to be really sure of what type of prosthesis I need and to see if we can delay it, I also think because I told him that I do not have any pain.

Exactly!

Daily I pray and ask for guidance, clarity, signs on this important issue and I do not know if this response from the traumatologist was an answer to my prayers and those of others! Thank you.

Hopefully this doctor will make any future treatment less invasive for you or at least more precise to your condition having a real picture to see what’s going on. I would say keep the faith up and when you ask for help the universe will answer!

 

[Chu]

I love doctors who prefer to have more information before deciding on something major! I hope it turns out to be okay. But even if it does require a prosthetics, this way you will be sure that it's the right thing to do.

Big hugs, Claudia, we are thinking about you and praying for you.

 

[ClaudiaYG]

On December 27th we went to the city of Monterrey, which is 3 hours away from our hometown, to see the first doctor who suggested an arthoscopy so that he could explain the procedure in more detail, it was not what we expected, it was somewhat uncomfortable and gave me signs that this doctor was not the right one. We started by asking him a lot of questions, Toño also asked him questions, but the doctor started to say that Toño was being defensive and that he preferred not to take my case, Toño and I were surprised, because at no time we were rude nor aggressive, we were just asking questions and the doctor felt uncomfortable and frustrated. He gave us some very simple, vague answers. Then I thought if this doctor gets frustrated with a few questions I don't want to imagine how he might get when actually operating.

Then we went to another doctor who turned out to be totally different from the first one, he gave us accurate answers, he showed us a video of what the procedure he proposed would be like, he made drawings, he gave us a specific medical diagnosis.

The second doctor said that, in line with what other doctors have said, my shoulder is suitable for a reverse prosthesis because I have a massive rotator cuff injury, but that he is very conservative in going for this because with the prosthesis there is no going back, because the bone is cut. He explained to us that a reverse shoulder prosthesis has been seen in the United States to have a 15% risk of infections or that it does not work and for me 15% is a high percentage.

Though a prosthesis might work, what he proposes is, through arthroscopy, to reconstruct the rotator cuff tendon with a porcine dermis acellular patch, among other repairs in other areas of my shoulder, so that mechanically the shoulder gets back to work. If the patch gets accepted by my body it can last up to 10 years, if it rejects it, it can try to put it on again. After that I would have the shoulder immobilized for a few weeks and then do physical rehab for approximately 3 to 6 months.

The doctor has already performed this procedure and has been successful. I am thinking on going for this procedure because on an erosion scale I am grade 3 and I am still on the verge of having this soft tissue procedure, as opposed to being grade 4 where there is nothing else to do.

I feel that there is light and hope before doing something as definitive as the prosthesis, because as the doctor says it is definitive and if it does not work the only thing that will happen is that you will be changing the prosthesis over and over. What I understood is that I no longer have cartilage because of the RA but that is not the main problem of the malfunction of my shoulder, the main problem is the rotator cuff.

I thank you to keep praying for me, for my health, for finding capable and honest doctors, for having the internal and emotional strength to go ahead, and then if I decide to do the patch my body will accept it.

 

[forest_light]

Dear Claudia,
this is the first time I have seen this thread...
what huge journey you have been on, and what incredible, amazing progress you have made!! I am SO happy to know you have such a wonderful and diverse support team and are actively immersing yourself in educating yourself about such complex and challenging issues. Ultimately you are finding ways to allow light/knowledge pathways to stream into your reality, while getting ‘reconnected’ to parts of yourself and healing layers of trauma your body has been ‘decoding’ for such a long time.

You are doing beautifully.

So happy to know you listened to your instincts about the first doctor who was clearly not the right FRV. I immediately felt sick and found it hard to breathe when I first started reading your most recent post, and was so relieved to know you found someone different that’s you resonated with, who appeared to be clear, factual, patient, open and willing to answer your (very normal!) questions respectfully and honestly.

To me, the interactions with two different doctors says a lot. You were first offered an pathway from a so called ‘professional’ - but you chose a much better path because you trusted your instincts. You knew you deserved better than the first doctor. Where one door closes, another appears. (I saw an image of you energetically slamming the door in that first doctors face! Well done!)



At the end of the day, before you make your decision, or if you are holding fear around your decision, I feel you need to sit peacefully with yourself, push all the ‘noise’ away, go deeply within and listen to your deepest/highest guidance. I feel you would benefit greatly from doing the EE breathing program as often as possible before making your decision. If you cannot, perhaps you can just listen to ‘The Prayer of the Soul’ as much as possible (before you rest / go to sleep) and ask for guidance and clarity from your higher self/future self and your loving light-filled ancestors. I feel it would also be helpful to do this leading up to any procedure.

This is your life, your journey, your body and your decision.
Trust your higher self. Have faith in your own guidance.
You are stronger and wiser than you perhaps give yourself credit for.

Sending love, many prayers, and gentle hugs.

 

[hlat]

He sounds like a good doctor, and it seems like you have everything to gain and nothing to lose with the rotator cuff reconstruction.

 

[PERLOU]

Très Chère Claudia, quelle expérience vous vivez là... Je suis de tout coeur avec Vous et Vous garde dans mes prières personnelles et celles du soir avec le Groupe... Que le Divin Esprit Cosmique étende sa main sur Vous... Love

Dearest Claudia, what an experience you are living there... I am with you wholeheartedly and keep you in my personal prayers and those of the evening with the Group... May the Divine Cosmic Spirit extend its hand to you... Love

 

[Chu]

You did such a good job in gathering as much information as possible, going to it with an open mind and being proactive, that if you have a good feeling about this last doctor, it should all go well! From your explanation, I understand that now you have a chance to do something about it, and that the worse case scenario is not as bad as not doing anything, correct?

BIG HUG from us all here, and whatever you decide, know that you have all our thoughts, prayers and support.

 

[Mariama]

He sounds like a good doctor, and it seems like you have everything to gain and nothing to lose with the rotator cuff reconstruction.

I agree, although I am saying this as a layperson. After reading your latest post I was wondering whether near infrared light could help you heal after the procedure, Claudia? It could help cellular repair and has effects on the inflammatory processes? I am just thinking off the cuff here, although I have done some research into photobiomodulation myself. A few weeks ago I bought a small hand-held lamp (infrared and red light; different frequencies) from a UK company which was not very expensive and good quality. All the best to you. You are in my thoughts.