So One Of My Brothers | Arthritis Information

 

 Well they just gave him more abx and prednisone because he can not open his mouth. Well he can a little bit. From what I understand they are giving up on the abx and just keeping him on high dose prednisone for now.

 

 He lives in a different State than I do so I only see him two or three times a year. He is a good family man and a good provider. He is blessed with a good job for a large large company and has worked thier for many years.

 

 So bless his heart he says he can not afford to get sick anymore because he is afraid of loosing his job. For now they are letting him work at home. The wonderful age of internet makes that an option for some people these days.

 

 So naturally they do not know what is wrong with him. They said maybe when he got his crown put on his tooth they hit the nerve when they gave him a shot? Then this may have caused scar tissue that then became infected?

 

 I hope this clears up for him soon. Well he is going to go see an Ears Nose and Throat and see if they can offer any advise.

 

 Well I hope he gets a Doctor that knows more than mine does. I have a great ENT but even my ENT is not sure exactly what is going on with my jaw lately. That is we do not know if it is for sure arthritis or if it could have something to do with an infection.

 

 I always get infections and I have arthritis so we think it is the RA but would not be surprised if it was something else. I would be thrilled to have it be something else if that something else was easily treated.

 

Well I really think mine is from the RA because it comes and goes as it pleases. The last time it swelled abx did not make it better. It just hung on and then when I was sure it would never get better it got better. It was two months last time. Well sometimes I would feel a twinge and of course when you take pain pills you may think something is better when it is only better enough to be below the line of the pain killer.

 

Well thats what my ENT's job is to tell me when my sinuses are better. He told me one day I remeber that the pred I was taking for my jaw and other parts was really helping my sinuses. Well my jaw was still hurting at the time. Plus my face is bigger on one side than the other side always. There is always a touch of inflamation on one side of my face.

 

I get some inflamation on the other side but not as much. Just like my feet I have one foot that is more advanced than the other foot.

 

So far I still have pretty good range of motion in my jaw. It is a bit less this time. The muscle feels a bit tense or shorter. If I lost that little bit every couple of months I would be in trouble quickly. I am hoping it is just from the infection and will ease up soon.

 

Hmmm I know it is probably not from the Sjorgren's because my Sjorgren's is not bothering me hardly at all right now. I have almost normal person moisture now. Last time my jaw was bothering me I was dry. Very dry as a matter of fact. The RD said he hoped I did not have damage in my glands. So unfortunately I think my jaw stuff is RA related.

 

 My brother said he is not experiencing any pain in other joints or body parts. Strange sounding to me because he has fibromyalgia of course no one has suggested to him that this could be fibro. Well I do not think I know what it is like to have fibro because mine is mixed with so much other stuff that I find it hard to tell sometimes what is making me hurt.

 

 They say Sjorgrens is painful also. Even Sjorgrens can make your joints swell. So when I hurt I hurt and when I swell I swell but I guess I never know the exact cause if you really think about.

 

  Well I hope my brother does not have RA is what I am worried about of course. He is only five years younger than me. My sister I am sure has RA her feet have been swelling same places as mine. She has alot of other problem areas the same places as mine. She is fifteen years younger than me and does not have all of my damage and tends to be able to bounce back from it all. Well for now of course we all know that it does not take long.

 

 I guess my brother could have a bad super bug of sorts that he can not get rid of. I suppose I could have a super bug infection also.

 

 He is really in alot of pain. He did not talk very much. He is trying to rest his jaw because he has such limited range of motion. Just he can not quite open his mouth two fingers but that is an improvement for him. He thinks resting it will be the best thing.

 

We stayed far away from each other. We did not want to mix any germs. I was washing dishes when he came over so I certainly washed my hands. I talked to him threw the doorway between the kitchen and the front room. Mostly for his protection from me than anything. I think I am safe I have been on Cipro for six days now. Just being cautious.

 

Then my little niece and that is another story. Well we thought she maybe had cat scratch fever. I was not around her much at the time just her Mom called beginning of December and asked what would cause extreemly large limph nodes?

 

I said one of my boys had cat scratch fever once and had a huge lymph node in his arm pit once. So anyway the poor kid well she has been on abx scince the beginng of December. The lymph nodes have gone down in size but have not gone down completely. Then after all of the abx she was sent to the ENT and had a fever and sinus infection and a fever. So noway her did her lymph nodes improve this week.

 

She is one of those kids that you just pray you will be able to get the abx down. You can talk her into swallowing the medicine by coaxing and threats. You can not prevent her from vomiting it back up because it is gross.

 

Well she was told she would have to have surgery if she did not take the abx and so she just does. I mean she really hates blood. She said she would never be a surgeon because she would see everyones blood inside of them and thats gross. She does not even like ruby red glass bowls with ice cream in them. Gross. She fell on her nose alot and gets bloody noses, well she has two brothers that probably helped her fall on her nose a couple of times.

 

Well at least now it easy to get her to take her medicine. So we are watching her. I was around her a little bit at Christmas time but I thought she was safe to be around because she had been on the abx for so long. We are really watching her. She goes back to the ENT sometime this week.

 

It just seems that we have some strange mysteries to solve?