Thursday, November 12, 2009

Been Missing in Action Here

I thought maybe I had a flare. Felt lousy, my knees hurt, and had skin issues, especially with what I had years ago -- pittacea (sp) or little red spots showing as blood vessels close to the skin burst and leave a mark. This was on one upper arm. The other upper arm, not to be outdone, had a dry, scaly patch, which I unconsciously scratched until it bled.

Since I had a rheum appt. in the next few days, I let it go and didn't panic. I got my lab work done on Friday before my appt. on Monday afternoon, and I asked them to send the results asap to my rheumy.

Arrived at his office, and no lab results. He checked me over, and of course the skin issues had disappeared by that time. My knees weren't as swollen, either. So-- probably wasn't a flare, nothing to worry about. But then he suggested I might want to drink some tonic water every night....without the gin, of course. He suggested lemon juice or something similar to cut the taste.

Well, tonic water is quinine, and plaquenil is quinine. So instead of increasing my plaquenil intake, I'm assuming this is the next best thing. And you know what? The large bottles of tonic water are pretty inexpensive.

Feeling somewhat better this week. Maybe I was just tired -- after all, any 71 year old woman gets tired every now and then. The other symptoms were so minimal, there was no reason to worry.

So I've been drinking my tonic water every night -- about a half glass with lemon juice, and I'll tell you something.....it's still bitter.

Excuse me. I'm going to the liquor store for gin.

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