Why Today Had To Be Different

Good Day Everyone,

It sure has been a while since I sat down to write a blog post. The past few weeks have been incredibly tough, primarily on the health front, although the house renovation has been another source of stress, and therefore a contributory factor to the aforementioned. I'll do a separate blog post updating you on the house soon as a lot has happened, and not always in a good way!

Coming back to the health issues, I've been firing or rather flaring, from all cylinders. I've been experiencing more migraine attacks than usual, and my body and scalp psoriasis has been going crazy. On top of this, my arthritis has flared up quite badly and I've been struggling with severe shoulder pain, as well as intense fatigue and exhaustion, despite doing very little physically. Things got really bad a couple of weeks ago and after several days of wallowing in teary self pity of "Why? Why is this happening to me?" I realised that I actually knew the answer to why, but more importantly, I took the mental step of acknowledging that no-one could put this right other than me (even though I already knew this too). You see, the thing with chronic illnesses is that you are battling those illnesses every single day, in fact it's every single minute of every single hour of every single day. The battle is continuous - there are no breaks, and it is absolutely relentless! With hindsight and some reflection (after all what else was I going to do when I'm in bed day after day), I can now see that I simply got tired of battling. I had no more fight left in me. I had surrendered, not only to the disease demons, but also to the temptations around me, which I fight on a daily basis.

So with the realisation and acknowledgement that I, and only I, had the power to change things, I...  started to change things ;o). Initially, the changes were all in my head as my body physically wasn't well enough to do anything, but over the last few days, I have started to turn those mental changes into physical action. They started of small, like me taking over juicing duties from hubby or being well enough to accompany him on a supermarket shop, but hey a step in the right direction is a step in the right direction, no matter how small, and slowly I'm moving on to bigger achievements.

Having been stuck in a bit of a negativity rut towards the end of this year, I didn't want to start 2016 on a negative note, no matter how bad my health maybe. And this is why I woke up today after a relatively decent night's sleep with a view that today had to be different. It just had to. I didn't want today, the last day of 2015, to be like the past few weeks. The same mundane routine. There had to be something new and there had to be some sense of achievement, no matter how small.

So the first thing I did was to check the weather forecast as it has been raining almost every single day this month and seeing that rain wasn't forecasted for a couple of hours, I suggested a sea front walk to hubby. We used to do these walks most mornings in Japan and found them to be very therapeutic mentally, as well as physically. Despite living next to the sea we haven't actually done many sea walks as hubby starts to work on the house as soon as he is up in the mornings. There was something very inspiring and awakening about today's walk- I started to feel like a weight was being lifted off my shoulders as I took in the crisp morning air and marveled at nature's beauty. The walk turned into a little breakfast stop off, and hubby and I used this rare quality time (we've had a great quantity of time together these past few months but it hasn't been of good quality) to reflect upon 2015, and discuss what we would both like to get out of 2016. Walking back we did get caught in the rain but it was worth it.

Once back home I took my first ever bath in our new bath tub to help my sore joints and whilst it only made them feel a little better and only for a short period of time, I think bath soaks will start to help the more often I do them. After my soak I made our daily juice and then set to work on doing some cooking. We very recently got to a stage where we have a fully functioning kitchen and yesterday hubby got our dining table and chairs out. This has made such a huge difference to the quality of our lives. So even though I was feeling quite tired physically, I decided to push ahead using my mental energy which was buzzing after the walk and bath, to be productive in the kitchen. I made fish pie, for the first time ever. I even made my own butter and parsley sauce, and it tasted great (even if I do say so myself ;o)). I made a batch of them so some can go in the freezer, and I'll be taking a few to my mum's this weekend as she's recovering from knee surgery (cue good daughter points lol).

I did a few more things that I won't bore you with but suffice to say, as I sit here typing this at 10.30pm on new year's eve, that today has been different to all the other days I've had lately. I have felt positive and got a real sense of achievement with today. Even though tonight is a quiet night for us, I feel excited, inspired and ready for 2016 to be a year of positive change for hubby and I. And on that note I shall leave you. All that remains for me to say is, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this and all the support you have given me, and I hope 2016 is a fabulous year for you and your loved ones :o).

Happy New Year Everyone! 

Love Sheen xxx

Psoriatic Arthritis: Second Time Acupuncture, Cupping & Moxibustion

Good Day Everyone,

Last Friday I went for my second session with my Japanese therapist for some more complementary medicine/therapies. I could not believe the difference the first session had made to my left shoulder. A week later and that shoulder was still feeling great. There was barely any tension or tightness. I've also found that I sleep really well on a Friday night after my sessions.

In last week's session the therapist started by asking me how I was feeling, specifically with regards to my problematic left shoulder. I informed her of the huge, positive, difference the first session had made to my left shoulder and explained that I was struggling with the pain in my right shoulder and collar bone joint. Also the arthritis in my right wrist and thumb was particularly active.

Acupuncture needle in my foot

She started this second session, very much like the first one, with me lying on the massage bed facing up and her examining my stomach and then poking it in several places with an acupuncture needle. She then examined the rest of my body in detail and focussed a lot on my spine. After this I spent the next hour or so face down as she did acupuncture on various parts of my body including my head, neck, shoulders, and ankles. She did focus more on my right shoulder given that that was my problematic area currently. I apologies in advance for the quality of the photos as they were taking using a phone rather than my camera.

Acupuncture needle in my head

Like the previous week, she used Moxa patches on my ankles.  In the photo below you can see the Moxa patch on my ankle burning away. As the stub burns further down, the metal part of the base/patch does get quite hot so if the therapist hasn't taken it off by that stage then I'll usually say 'hot' in Japanese and she'll immediately remove it. She also uses a 'cigarette' version of the Moxa patch and sort of pushes the warm ash into certain places on my back after she's pierced it with an acupuncture needle.

You can listen to my experience of my second session in the video below as well as how it left me feeling afterwards and again three days post-session. In the video I also talk about my first ever experience of the wet cupping (also known as blood letting) that the therapist did on the back of my neck.

As she wrapped up the session the therapist stuck these acupuncture plasters on various parts of my body. As you can see from the photo below, the plaster has a raised nodule in the centre and inside it is a very fine, short acupuncture needle.

Single needle acupuncture plaster

I removed these acupuncture plasters a few days later and I tried to capture a photo of the needle at the center just to show you what it looks like. You'll have to excuse all the fluff that's on the sticky part of the plaster in the photo below.

In case you are wondering, my sessions typically last around 80-90mins. The first one cost 8,950 Yen and all subsequent sessions cost 6,700 Yen, which is actually cheaper than a massage.

I'll be honest, I am struggling to fully understand how exactly these therapies are working and you may think that there is an element of the placebo effect, but I am actually feeling a reduction in not only the tightness in my muscles and joints, but also a reduction in my pain, and there's no mistaking when I'm in pain. The way I look at it is that at least there are no real side effects to these therapies unlike modern pharmaceutical drugs and even if I don't understand how they are working, I will continue to explore these therapies for as long as they are having a beneficial effect. I only wish I'd started to explore them a few years earlier, but hey, you live and learn ;o)

Have you ever tried acupuncture or any other complementary therapies? What was your experience?

Love Sheen xxx

This Too Shall Pass

Good Day Everyone,

For the last few weeks I have been struggling more than usual with Arthur (aka arthritis). I don't know what's made him so angry that he's flared up this badly, but I do know that he's not happy and he's not shy in letting me know. One of the hardest things about living with this autoimmune disease is not knowing what my trigger is. If I knew what was causing my body to react in this manner then I could work to reduce, ideally eliminate it. As with most autoimmune diseases, the trigger could be anything from a chemical that I am exposed to which could be in my makeup, toiletries, food or environment to a genetic component or even stress... there is simply no knowing. And that is one of the most frustrating things.

The pain in my neck/spine, shoulders, collar bones and hip joints is driving me crazy. It leads to many sleepless nights and living with chronic pain is sooo much more difficult when you're constantly sleep deprived. Seriously, when I've had a decent night's sleep I'm like Mary Poppins on Pro Plus, the high is so great that I feel like I could conquer the world (even if in reality I'm still in bed by 8pm ;o)). The difference in my mood and personality is profound...just ask my hubby.

Its no wonder that people living with chronic pain and disease are more likely to suffer from depression. I know from experience how easy it is to fall into a downward spiral of depression, negative thoughts and self sabotage. The battle is not only physical but mental too. There's this little voice inside my head that questions the value of every good, yet difficult, thing that I do when doing it hasn't stopped this disease from progressing! It hurts to exercise but I need to exercise daily to maintain my mobility and flexibility because if I don't, my joints start to seize up and my movement becomes restricted even further. It takes an awful lot of mental strength and will power not to give into that voice and just spend my days lounging on the sofa in my pjs. It also takes a lot of (mental & physical) energy to be positive and happy when I'm in such severe pain.

Chronic ill health is like a full time job and more. I have to work at it constantly, every single day of the week. So even though I'm in pain and particularly fed up at the moment, I still work hard to eat as cleanly as possible, I still try to exercise daily, and I still try to actively manage my mental health. A positive mindset has a huge effect on one's physical health, and vice versa. I don't do all of this to make Arthur better, (although I live in hope), rather I do it to not make myself worse, to avoid that downward spiral that I feel is always calling my name.

Hope is something that I will never give up. After spending a decade of my life living with the most awful scalp psoriasis, fearing I'd never know what it is like to have a normal scalp again. Feeling complete and utter despair at having to spend hours each day treating and managing this affliction, I now have a scalp that is 95% clear. It took 10 years but I finally got there and that is why I will never give up hope... some things that we want so desperately do come to us, it just takes a while!

As well as hope and prayers, I also have certain motos/mantras that I remind myself of when going through a tough time such as the title of this blog post. I know from experience that bad times will pass, I just have to be patient. Time doesn't stand still for anyone so if things are bad, never give up hope because they will change... time will bring that change. Likewise, if things are good then treasure and value them because it could all change in the blink of an eye.

So in a bid to keep my sanity through this bad patch, I've been getting up each morning and going for a walk along the seafront. This not only forms part of my daily exercise but I find being outdoors very therapeutic. Seeing the morning sun glistening on the water with the birds chirping in the background is very calming. Everyday I notice different trees budding, new flowers blooming and that gets me excited for spring, it gets me excited for the change that I know is around the corner, it gets me excited for when I will feel better :o).

Love Sheen xxx

Missing In Action

Good Day Everyone,

Well it sure has been a while, hasn’t it? When I left for our trip to Japan at the end of March I felt rather proud that I had manage to prepare several blog posts which would be published automatically in my absence, thus maintaining my routine of publishing blog posts on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Heck I’d even prepared one for Monday 7^th April in advance even though we arrived back in Singapore early that morning, just in case I was too tired to type that day. I figured that would take the pressure off and give me time to prepare a fresh post for Wednesday 9^th April. 

Cherry blossoms (Kyoto, Japan)

Well that was the plan but if you follow me on Instagram / Facebook / Twitter then you'll know that things didn't quite go to plan! I guess what I’d not planned for was having a severe arthritic flare that knocked me for six. The day we got back my arthritic joints went a bit crazy and I developed such a debilitating bout of fatigue and exhaustion that I’ve been on more or less complete bed rest for almost three weeks now. A few days after getting back I got food poisoning as well! Oh it was not good. One minute I was being sick and the next I was fainting. My energy levels just went completely through the floor. I didn’t even have the strength to wash my own hair!!! In and amongst all of this my left thumb became arthritic as well as another finger on my right hand. Typing is becoming increasingly challenging now that I have arthritis in six of my fingers and thumbs as well as a wrist.

After two weeks of barley having any strength to speak, I finally started to feel better. This week the severe fatigue and exhaustion has finally eased :o). Whilst I’m still feeling weak and drained it’s not that debilitating fatigue that I initially had where I can’t do anything at all. My energy levels have been improving this week so much so that I was finally able to download our Japan photos onto my laptop. I'm looking forward to working my way through them. I have so many Japan blog posts running through my head that I can't wait to get them all on to my blog over the coming weeks and share our amazing trip with you all.

My hubby, bless him, has been sooo amazing and supportive. He’s been doing the shopping, cooking and washing, as well as going to work ever since we got back. He’s done a wonderful job of taking care of me and ensuring that I have nothing to do but rest. I’m pleased to be finally feeling better so that I can start helping out with household chores and taking some of the pressure of him so that he has time to relax and chill out. 

In sickness and in health. I seriously have the best hubby :o)

Even though I’m feeling much better, I have noticed that I’ve lost a lot of stamina. I seem to get out of breath really easily and to me that’s a sign that I need to get myself back to the gym and start building my strength and stamina back up. However, before I do that I have another little holiday to go on... lucky me :o).

This time next week one of my dearest friends will be coming to visit us all the way from France. She’s going to be with us for 11 days and my hubby and I are super excited for her visit. The three of us get on sooo well that we have even lived together in a one bed apartment back in England when either she or we have been in between homes. It’s the kind of friendship where even when we’ve not been living in the same country, as soon as the three of us get together, it’s like the distance was never even there. She’s one of my oldest friends and we have so much fun when we are together. I’ll be taking her to Langkawi Island and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) for five days whilst my hubby’s at work and then we’ll have a few days at the start and end of her visit in Singapore. Her visit is another reason why I’ve been on complete bed rest as I desperately want to get better before her arrival so that I have the energy to take her out and about and show her all the sights. I want her to have an amazing time as I know she’s really been looking forward to this trip.

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately and what I’ll be getting up to over the next couple of weeks. How have you been? What have you been up to?

I’ll be working on my Japan blog posts over the coming weeks but just bear with me as I need to take it slowly so that I don’t undo the last three weeks of bed rest. However, you can get sneak peaks into our trip on my Instagram.

Love Sheen xxx

Living With PsA: The Drugs, The Side Effects And That Photo

Good Day Everyone,

 A quick disclaimer to say that I am not a medical professional and that you should not make any changes to your psoriatic arthritis medication and/or treatment without discussing it with your doctor first.  This is simply my personal experience of living with psoriatic arthritis.

Today I wanted to continue from last week’s post and talk about living with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) but this time focussing on my experience with the different medications I’ve tried. As I mentioned in last week’s post my rheumatologist back home in England started me on a steroid called prednisolone whilst we waited for my first set of blood test results. By the time I went back to see him to get my results I had started to suffer from quite bad insomnia as a side effect of the steroid and so my rheumatologist reduced my steroid dose and started me on a drug called Arcoxia (etoricoxib) to help with the pain and inflammation.

I remained on this combination of medicines for around 18 months and for the last eight of these months we were living in Singapore which is where we currently live (we moved over in May 2011). However, even though I was on a lower dose of the steroid, over the course of the 18 months I developed the classic side effects associated with prolonged use of steroids such as weight gain on my face and stomach. I’ve always been a slim person and I always thought that I would be able to deal with any weight gain as a result of my medication with confidence and dignity, if it was helping my arthritis... boy was I wrong!

Being only 4ft 11inches tall, any weight gain is very obvious on me. Also, I’ve always had an oval shaped face with no real cheek bone or jawline definition but the puffiness in my face due to the steroid was taking it to a whole other level. My face looked like a balloon. My cheeks became so huge that they were drowning my otherwise large nose and I had gained the most enormous double chin. My stomach just kept getting bigger and bigger even though I’m a relatively healthy eater. As I moved up in clothes size the weight gain really started to take a toll on my confidence and self-esteem. I hated looking in the mirror or shopping for clothes which I had to do as I got bigger, but worst of all I didn’t feel that this drug combination was helping with my arthritis. Yes it made the pain more manageable and helped with the inflammation but the arthritis was still progressing to more joints. It looked as though the time was coming for me to move on to a DMARD (disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug). 

For the last seven months of 2011, I was working in a temporary role as we settled into life in Singapore. I had almost an hour commute each way to work and worked quite long hours. The long hours and the commute started to take a toll on my joints. Not only that, but as my hubby also worked long hours we would often get home after 8pm and then be too tired to cook / prepare supper. As a result we were either eating foods that I wouldn’t really classify as a proper meal like fruit, cereal, bread or we were eating frozen foods that we could bung in the oven. 

As well as the arthritis, I was suffering from regular migraines which I suspect were due to the lifestyle of working long hours, always being tired and not eating as regularly or as healthily as I should. The migraines would often occur behind one of my eyes and would actually affect how much my eye opened. It was one weekend in November 2011, when we were out having a coffee and my hubby sat opposite me that he noticed how bad my eye was. There was a very obvious difference in how much less the migraine affected eye was opening compared to the eye that didn’t usually get a migraine behind it. My hubby took a photo of me on my iphone to show me. That photo shocked me and was the catalyst to the subsequent changes that I made to my life. Not only did the photo highlight the difference in my eyes, it also captured my steroid induced weight gain but more than either of those, the photo captured a despair and unhappiness that was so apparent in my face and body language. I could tell from that photo that I was truly unhappy and lacking in confidence, self-esteem and my usual happiness. There and then I decided that I could not carry on being so unhappy and that I was going to take control of my health and my life.

The first change I made was to give up work in December 2011. It wasn’t an easy decision as it meant that our household income dropped dramatically and Singapore is an expensive place to live but my hubby totally supported me and insisted that I take time out to concentrate on me. The second big decision I made was to come off the steroid medication as my gut feel was that it was no longer helping to manage my arthritis. Plus if I was going to move onto a DMARD, the next level of medication for my arthritis, then I wanted to be in a better state of mind and the weight gain was really depressing me. I weaned myself off the steroids gradually as it isn’t recommended that you stop them suddenly. 

By the time I was completely off the steroids in February 2012 I had already lost 5kg (11lbs) and that was without exercising and just eating a bit more healthily. Not working meant that my hubby and I were eating more fresh home cooked foods rather than convenience or processed foods. Around April 2012, after lots of research into the types of exercises that might help manage arthritis, I started to exercise on a regular basis. It wasn’t anything intense as I couldn’t run due to the arthritis in my knee and toes, and I couldn’t do the bike due to the arthritis in my hips. I started with just walking 3km on the treadmill, doing a few free weights. Before long, I started to feel good. I felt happier within myself as the weight came off (in total I lost 10kg (22lbs)) and I saw improvements in the time it took me to walk the 3km. When I first started in the gym, it was taking me almost 45mins just to walk 3km but after about six months of perseverance it was taking me less than 25mins. I bought a yoga mat and started to do some yoga inspired stretches which really helped with the joint pain in my larger joints like my hips and spine. I also started hula hooping which I absolutely love and luckily I had brought my hoop with me to Singapore.

By the time my mum and brother came to visit us in July 2012, I was back to my old happy self. I had gotten into a good routine of exercising daily Mon-Fri, always walking my 3km on the treadmill followed by some free weights and then either yoga inspired stretching or hula hooping. On the weekends, I wouldn’t go to the gym but instead go for walks with my hubby. I cannot tell you what a huge difference the exercise and healthy eating made. I felt so good. Life was good.

However, despite all the good of the exercise and healthy eating, the arthritis continued to spread to more joints, albeit at a slower rate. Early in 2013 I had a couple of really bad episodes of such severe fatigue that it left me bed bound. I didn’t even have the energy or strength to shower or cook on some days. It didn’t seem to matter how much I rested, the fatigue would just not ease and lasted 2-3 weeks at a time which meant I couldn’t even exercise or go out. So in April 2013, I decided it was about time I found myself a rheumatologist in Singapore. Since our move to Singapore in May 2011, I had simply been going to see a local GP (family doctor) to get repeat prescriptions of my steroid and / or Arcoxia. 

At the end of April I went to see a rheumatologist in Singapore. He took my medical history, conducted blood tests to check my inflammation levels and x-rayed all of my joints to look for joint damage. The results showed that my inflammation levels were quite high and he recommended that I start taking a DMARD in an attempt to slow the progression of my arthritis. He suggested one of the newer types of DMARDs known as anti-TNFs (anti-tumour necrosis factor) and I can’t say that I was surprised that he recommended one of the newer ones because they are a lot more expensive than the older ones. The reason I am highlighting this is because the healthcare system in Singapore is very different to the UK. In the UK, the doctor would typically write a drug prescription which a pharmacist would then dispense. In Singapore, however, most doctors dispense the medication themselves so naturally the more they dispense or the more expensive drugs they dispense the more money they make, I assume. It’s very common in Singapore to go see a doctor about a sore throat or a cough and walk away with half a dozen different drugs, each for a slightly different symptom!

Now you may think that I’m being cynical but whilst I’m not a qualified healthcare professional, I did spend many years working in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry where I learnt about different drugs and diseases, including anti-TNFs and arthritis. I know that if I was in the UK, the guidelines would stipulate that the doctor should put me on one of the older DMARDs first before moving onto one of the newer ones. However, this may well be to try and control costs as the newer DMARDs cost thousands of pounds a month. In Singapore, we would be paying for my treatment directly out of our own pockets and so from a healthcare system perspective cost is no issue.

But cost was an issue for us especially with me not working. You see as well as the expense, the newer DMARDs can take up to three months to have an effect so we could fork out thousands of pounds only to find that the drug has had no positive effect on my arthritis and then we would have to go to the expense of trying another. Also the newer DMARDs are administered either as an IV drip or as intramuscular injections and I am severely needle phobic. In addition, the newer DMARDs have some very serious side effects such as cancer and organ damage which means you need to have a whole host of tests on a regular basis to check for these side effects. Some of these side effects can even be fatal. 

After some deliberation, I decided to try one of the older DMARDs because it was an oral tablet, it had been around longer than the newer DMARDs and so its long term side effects were well documented and it was much cheaper than the newer DMARDs. I had the choice between methotrexate (a chemotherapy drug that is also an abortive agent) or sulfasalazine (an anti-inflammatory drug developed to treat arthritis). I opted for the latter because the drug itself and the side effects seemed less scary.

Here’s another thing about healthcare in Singapore that’s different to the UK, in the UK all prescription drugs come in their original boxes along with a patient information leaflet but in Singapore most drugs are given to you as a blister pack in a clear plastic bag without the original packaging and without a patient information leaflet – to me that is seriously scary because not once has a doctor in Singapore ever explained to me or highlighted what the side effects might be for any of the drugs that I’ve been given, and without a patient information leaflet, it basically comes down to the patient to take the initiative to research the drug they've been given on the internet!

When I started on the sulfasalazine in May 2012, the rheumatologists didn’t give me a patient information leaflet nor did the drug come in the original packaging. I was given either two or three weeks’ worth of the drug as tablets in blister packs in a clear plastic bag. The rheumatologist didn’t highlight any side effects that I might suffer from at all and simply said to call his office if I had any questions. That was it!

What followed over the next two to three weeks was absolutely awful. Within a couple of days of starting on the sulfasalazine I started to suffer from daily chronic headaches, my urine was bright yellow which is a relatively painless side effect, I had a huge loss of appetite and bad stomach pains. All these side effects made me feel so much worse than my arthritis did but I persevered in the hope that as my body got used to the drug, they would ease. To make matters worse, sulfasalazine needs to be taken after food because otherwise it irritates the stomach but because I was suffering from a lack of appetite quite severely, I really struggled to eat and so one day I took my daily dose after just having a slice of toast. That one slice was not enough because I then developed the most severe stomach pains ever as a result of not eating enough to line my stomach.

By the time I went back to see the rheumatologist 2-3 weeks later, he agreed with me in that it didn’t look as though the side effects were going to ease and quite frankly I couldn’t deal with them any longer and so I came off the sulfasalazine. The rheumatologist suggested I try the methotrexate but I decided I needed a break to recover from the sulfasalazine side effects and wanted some time out just on the Arcoxia which I have no side effects from and tolerate well. 

With my rheumatologist being Chinese I asked him about Chinese medicine and any other complimentary medicines / therapies that he thought might help but he was incredibly dismissive about these, so much so that he just didn’t seem prepared to discuss these, or even the role of food and exercise, saying that none of these things were proven to slow the progression of the disease down. He may well have been right but I guess a part of me couldn’t help but think that perhaps he was so dismissive of these complimentary therapies because he doesn’t stand to make any money out of them, unlike the drugs! I don’t know, maybe I’m being too harsh on him. But I find it very hard to trust that a doctor has my best interest at heart, when I know he most likely makes money on the more drugs / more expensive drugs he dispenses to me, not to mention all the follow up consultations and tests monitoring the side effects.

So since June 2013 I have just been taking my Arcoxia, managing my stress levels, eating healthily, stretching and exercising and getting lots of rest. I have to say with the odd exception of some severe fatigue episodes and a couple of painful flares, I’ve been feeling pretty good. I know many doctors and even fellow arthritis sufferers may disagree with my approach and feel that I should be taking a DMARD to try and slow the progression of my arthritis rather than simply managing the symptoms of pain and inflammation and that’s fine because everybody is entitled to their opinions. But for me, I want to delay moving onto the more toxic and potent drugs for as long as possible because whilst they may, and it is a big may, be effective in slowing the progression of my arthritis, that benefit is most likely to come at a cost of side effects which leave me feeling worse than the arthritis itself!

Are you an arthritis sufferer? What drugs have you tried? What has been your experience?

Love Sheen xxx