Advise From Others | Arthritis Information

So my brother was in town. I have lots of brothers some tend to be more controlling than others. Which is funny because it is a lost cause if someone wants to put in the effort to try to tell me what to do. My sister and I are both sort of extreemly stubborn that way. Not that I would dare try to change my brother. My goal is to have a nice visit and enjoy each others company.

I really truely believe my brother cares about me and wants to help. He goes to a natural medicine doctor himself. So he is happy and feels that he has had great success with his doctor and that I should go to a natural medicine doctor.

I have never been to his doctor. It all seems to be a different language than what I speak. I truely doubt that he knows a book he bought me years back for fibro actually said take pain medicine and muscle relaxers and if that does not make you sleep take ect., ect.,

So my brother says pain is your main problem right? Of course i politely showed him my foot. I said really joint damage and swelling are my major problems. Of course I said one keeps hopes that their internal organs are not being effected. Pain is a big problem of course. My sister was sort of smerking in the back ground waiting for me to go off on my brother for his comment. I did not. I know he meant to say that I need leathal amounts of vitamin C intravenously instead of Vicoden.

If he had called and told me he was coming I would not have thawed out pork chops before he came. He had a fungal infection years ago and does not eat pork. He used to not eat alot of things. Seems he has given into temptation in some other areas of his diet just not pork. I made him steak and of course I cooked my pork chops I did not throw them in the garbage. So I did not unthaw any more pork until after he left.

Sometimes people would rather argue or be right than understand what you are telling them. Last time he was in town he commented on how my face was not all swollen from the prednisone. He woke me up before he left to tell me he had bought me prebiotics. I almost told him he bought the kind I was allergic to but did not bother. I honestly do not know where they are? I am grumpy in the mornings. He probably took them with him out the door. Saying what a stubborn closed minded person I am to not give the prebiotics a chance. Because he was looking for an argument. Seriously if you wake me up in the morning and you do not have a plate of bacon and eggs in your hand with a cup of coffee I am going to give you a dirty look.

Is there a difference between prebiotics and probiotics? I am allergic to some of them. The point is why would I argue with my brother over something he believes in? I will never go to a natural medicine doctor he knows this by now. I am not going to say I just do not believe that it will help me. So I tell him my insurance does not cover that and it is too expencive. What do pork chops have to do with a fungal infection you had five years ago?

I get the feelling we have definate differences in opinion.

LOL Milly. You can pick your friends but you can't pick your relatives! It's OK to agree to disagree.Milly,

I can see your brother in the past me. I was a total natural homeopathic type person. People that saw "real" doctors were "stoopid". This is the thing with most all of our common problems and illnesses. Our bodies usually conquer all of them. when the naturalists take their homeopathic medicines, we give all the credit to the Homeopathics, not our bodies natural defenses. The only thing that finally woke me up was getting a real disease. There ain't no homeopathic in the world can cure or fix. Gosh, I gave my parents such grief over their medical doctors and drugs. Oh well, I'm not sure where I was going with this so I guess I'll just dead end it here.

LEV

Oh Milly, you crack me up! Thanks for giving me a great giggle for the day.

I think you are wise not to be confrontational with your brother. It just one of those things we humans do, if we find something that we really believe in and feel strongly about, we can be obnoxious about trying to get everyone to feel the same way! You see it with family members most often, I think. Whether it be religion, lifestyle choices, musical choices, the best way to make spaghetti sauce or whether you should have natural childbirth or not, everyone has an opinion! Oh, and of course there's the whole Mac vs. PC discussion!

The important thing is we can laugh about it, and overlook each other's passionate, albeit obnoxious attitudes. You are far ahead of many - at least your brother is showing concern and interest in your illness!

Keep me laughing, Milly, I love it!

Milly, it sounds like you have already convinced yourself that nothing else will work for your pain other than vicodin. So, it probably won't. It is a mind set and when you close the door to an opportunity, the door is closed.This post cracked me up! Families are wonderful, aren't they? I have only one sister and love her dearly.....but she definitely has an opinion on EVERYTHING! She the older one, of course. Since I got RA, she has mellowed some on her recommendations and ideas about what I should and should not be doing. I don't really confront her in a nasty way if she brings something up. Usually, I am able to tell her what the research has found or what experts say and she then sort of acts somewhat surprised that I've been educating myself on RA and have learned so much. She's gotten more into just asking if I've received test results, what do I know about a particular medication, etc. She can be wonderful support when I'm really feeling bad and I wouldn't know what to do without her!

Mary H.Oh Milly, my grandmother and your brother should go to dinner together! They'd have the satisfaction of being completely right about us and our close-mindedness.
My grandma bought me some very pure essential oils that one women in her tai chi group claims cured her RA. Every time she sees me she asks if the oils are working. If I say no, she accuses me of being too close minded and not giving it a chance. Finally I told her they were giving me a rash (not far from the truth, btw. That stuff was stinky and it burned!). My grandma then told me that repressed anger at my father, who left when I was a child, was the root of my illness. If I'd only forgive him then I'd be healed. (Now mind you, I'm a well adjusted, happily married mom, and I haven't even mentioned my father in my grandmother's presence for decades.) If abandonment issues really caused RA, wouldn't roughly 50% of the population have this disease? Well, my grandma is a month away from 90 and has no arthritis whatsoever. So she can't imagine how I ended up in this predicament. Ughh..why couldn't I have gotten those genes?
Hang in there milly. I always tell myself that a normal family wouldn't be half as interesting
leila

YOU are just RUDE. There was no reason for this post.

[QUOTE=lorster]Milly, it sounds like you have already convinced yourself that nothing else will work for your pain other than vicodin. So, it probably won't. It is a mind set and when you close the door to an opportunity, the door is closed.[/QUOTE]

Phats, are you just trying to pick a fight? What part of that post is rude? I was telling Milly not to close the door to all possibilities when it comes to treating this disease. Poor milly, she started a good thread that means something to her, Lorster posted something that wasnt rude at all as a lot of us do things or think things that are mind over matter and Phats here you go again...picking on someone.

Sorry Milly xx

exactly.I'm waiting for an apology.

NO, you were telling her that she already decided that narcs were the only way to handle her pain. You are a rude bitch.

[QUOTE=lorster] Phats, are you just trying to pick a fight? What part of that post is rude? I was telling Milly not to close the door to all possibilities when it comes to treating this disease. [/QUOTE]

Pack your lunch. You are going to be awhile. In fact, you are too f'ing stupid to waste anymore time on.

[QUOTE=lorster]I'm waiting for an apology.[/QUOTE]

LOL Phats, I was not going to hold my breath Thats what I am talking about exactly. When people turn the whole thing around at you and it is not a disease but a punishment for being close minded.

My brother loves to argue politics for example. It made him more angry that we were voting for the same person I believe because he wanted to tell me what how wrong I was and could not. LOL

He walked out the door with his prebiotics before I even got out of bed. I am forty six. To look up first thing in the morning and see my siblings faces hanging over me is just not an everyday practice. I have been feelling pretty good for the most part lately. Better than a couple of years ago anyway. So really it was just strange. I thought what am I in the ICU and do not remember?

Coffee is good for your teeth. I have Sjorgrens and I had more health problems with abcess teeth when I gave up coffee so the benifits out way the risk. Whatever the risk is? I do not really eat that much bagon I was sort of joking when I said that. I do occassionally eat bacon. I eat my fair share of eggs they are in my opinion a healthy food b vitamins and protien.

I really eat a variety of foods. Lots of fruits and vegatables. I take 1000 mg of vitamin C a day. I take fishoil both prescribed by my doctor. I am not a perfect person sometimes I eat bacon. I have cut back on my sugar. I gave up soda. I do not drink alchohol or do drugs. I get my medical advise from my gp and Mayo Clinic. I am sure many want to say that is a bad thing to do. I am just not trying. So closed minded that I am beyond help.

Whatever. My personal journey and history is something I know about. Not something someone can just hurt my feellings by comments about my attitude. I have joint damage deformities and I enjoying walking and getting out of bed. I should dump whatever else I am doing and get a lethal dose of vitamin c IV because my brother says so. He is not a doctor. Plus I have not been told that I have lead poisoning. My brother does not have RA he is not in pain.

I have a hard time with any treatment conventional or unconventional my allergic reactions are not biased my closed mind has no influence. I said that I was the one that read the book my brother bought me. LOL He obviously did not. I love my brother. He means well. I did not say anything to him about the prebiotics. He woke me up showed me the bottle and left. I just do not see them anywhere in the house. So I assume he did not not like the look on my face when he woke me up to tell me about them.

I honestly do not think that even a natural medicine doctor would suggest me giving up my Vicoden. I could be wrong. Honestly I would try about anything to feel better. LOL I am at current time following my doctors instructions and not complaining to much I hope. I have multiple health problems, multiple allergies. A little atta girl would go along way once in awhile. That is if the power of mind over body is what my problem is.

Everyone has an opinion. One of my brothers said I should just smoke pot all day. Why? If I did not do it before why would I do it now? LOL I do not think that would help my sinuses.

I take more antibiotics than most people on AP. However it is Cipro or Keflex because I am allergic to everything else. So it is not something I concider to be proactive against RA. I have pretty bad muscle and tendon problems. Bad enough to stump every RD I ever seen. I suppose someone would want me to give up my once a night flexeril. When in actuality I refused to take them as long as I could stand and decided I probably would have had a better quality of life if I had been taking them all along. I skip them some nights if I have to

wake up early.

I can not make all of the people happy all of the time. There for I do not try to. A person could get dizzy pretty fast taking advise from everyone. I can not take everything all at once anyway. We just have to try one thing at a time and hope for the best.

My brother did not fair well with conventional medicine. He feels better with his natural medicine doctor. Still sorry I can not afford it. LOL I do not have the same thing as my brother.

So to all be patient with one another. Supportive of one another. There are alot of diseases and health problems. Mixtures of diseases. I can not judge another persons pain. I have been there done that. Screaming and staying in bed gets old after awhile. I take pain pills. If I should get better and go into remission and do not need pain pills that would be the very best thing in the world.

Suddenly I should switch my probiotics to prebiotics. Why because my brother has chrones? I do not. The two treat different parts of the colon. No I have to draw a line somewhere. I have a lot of medicines and you know what. I like yogurt and my raisin bran. I like fruits and veggetables. Food is expensive I am not buying yet another bottle of the latest craze I want apples and grapes and green beans ect.. My dollars already have a place to go.

Close minded? Sorry about that. The way I see it my health care has evolved with my disease. I started out at the chiropracters thinking I was over worked. My blood test did not origanally support me to believe any different. I think I lived in denial for years and lucky me the doctors supported me in my denial. I questioned it occasionally scince I could not get out bed from time to time.

It is a sad time when a person gives into the pain pills. It was not something I went into lightly. I am certain I put up with a great deal more pain than most for many years before I gave into the pain pills. My GP watched me walk around stiff as a board in terrible pain for years. He nearly fell over when I asked him for Vicoden. He said sure. WOW You are not allergic to that. Great.

So LOL I think we can all relate to the fact that we can not please all of the people all of the time. I could buy every vitamin and natural remedy someone somewhere would have something to say about it.

There is a certain grieving process involved with getting to the point of getting on biologics and pain meds. Maybe some are all knowing and do it because they are smart. I fought giving up my life before RA tooth and nail. The illness won. So now it is my turn to win. Anyway that is the plan.

[QUOTE=milly] Thats what I am talking about exactly. When people turn the whole thing around at you and it is not a disease but a punishment for being close minded.

Milly. It will always be a disease. It becomes a punishment when you become close minded!!Milly I liked your post, you showed us some aggravating family dynamics, and you did it with humor and grace, I wish I could handle myself so well under the pressure I too have had to chose biologics and pain meds so I can continue to work and keep my insurance. Milly, I want to have breakfast at your house! I laughed myself silly about how you should be roused from peaceful sleep! Well it is all in what you read and what you choose to believe. I really never looked up prebiotics before. I guess it is what fiber? Non digestable food? So a lot of people are saying it is important for your probiotics to work.

Then I read something that said it does not really work that way because it goes to a different part of the colon. So nothing is ever clear cut. I eat alot of strawberry yogurt. I thought the strawberry seeds were supposed to help the good bacterias. I guess we feel that food is inadaquate and we need extra of everything in a bottle.

Looked up squalene. Lots of scary things to say about it. Then I read something that said the scary stuff was all made up. That reports were sent out and it was never even in the vaccine that all the contraversy is about. On the other hand it has been around along time and widely used. Fishoil from a sharks liver. I am supposed to be afraid of that. Maybe I am defective or something but I am not afraid of fish oil from a sharks liver.

For everything there is just as much for or against. I am not all knowing. I do not have all of the answers. Only time will tell. I wish everyone well with thier choices.

Just to clarify I am not saying there is anything wrong with prebiotics. I read an article in the doctors office a year ago about natural probiotics and foods that you should eat to help promote the probiotics. Fiber is good.

I am a person that is allergic to cream of tarter. Even when it comes to vitamin C I can only take ascorbic acid, I am allergic to rosehips. Not a little bit alot allergic to rose hips. A lot a bunch allergic to rose hips.

My dad yelled at me for getting strepthroat again when I was a freshman in highschool. I took a couple of vitamin c with rosehips. He felt bad about yelling at me and came to check on me the next morning. I woke up and looked at my Dads face. He was in shock. I did not know what was wrong but I was sure I was going to die by look on my Dads face. I was covered in giant hives. My Mother thought we were rediculas. I had never heard of giant hives before so it really was scary. It gave my Dad a few grey hairs. We thought I had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or something scince I was burning up with fever.

Anyway LOL I do not like people waking me up and especially with a bottle of something I have never had before. YIKES!! My doctor says I can only try one new thing at a time. I got my flu shots so I do not need any new stuff this week. Strange I have never had any trouble with vaccines before. I reserve the right to proceed with caution.

The entire buisness of having RA is scary. The Flu is scary. Paying for my fruit at the store is scary. I bought grapes, fuji apples and bananas it was fifteen dollars. Well to me an over the counter bottle of something can be just as scary. Of course now that I look it up it sounds like metamucil. LOL fiber that is does not sound scary to me.