This screenshot of today’s pollen count looks different from the ones I have included in previous Spring Pollen Season 2017 posts.
The reason is simple – I had a rheumatology appointment today, which meant I had to go outside on a day when the pollen count was 9.9. Obviously, this resulted in a long, long, nap when I got back home. I wasn’t able to take a screenshot until after Pollen.com moved on to the next day. Oops.
I haven’t felt right all day, physically, because I’m overloaded with pollen and inflammation due to my allergic reaction to pollen.
My rheumatologist and I had the doctor-patient version of the “let’s just be friends” conversation people go through when they break up with each other.
He has flip-flopped about whether or not I have rheumatoid arthritis, in part because I think he forgets that my blood work shows I have the rheumatoid factor. I don’t have severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms – and this confuses him.
My best guess is the years of allergy medications, acupuncture, and supplements have helped reduce the inflammation in my body just enough to slow down my rheumatoid arthritis. Like, I should be a whole lot sicker now, with knobby finger joints that look like the hands of witches in fairy tales. My grandmother had hands like that. I don’t (yet).
We reviewed the medications he offered me. One made me sick because – lucky me – it turned out that an active ingredient (pregelatinized starch) had gluten in it. So, the medication made me severely sick because my body doesn’t process gluten and, oh yeah, I’ve been diagnosed with allergies to wheat, rye, and barley.
The second medications he offered I would not take because there is a risk of blindness.
My rheumatologist is absolutely certain that I have fibromyalgia. He has said, many times, the he wishes he could help me with it – but there isn’t anything that he can do. So, we are doing the “make an appointment as needed” thing. I am ok with that.
The biggest, brightest, point of my day was when the GOP pulled the Trumpcare bill out of the House of Representatives before a vote was cast. They knew the bill would never pass the Senate and that it was incredibly unpopular with the American people. As such – Obamacare is still the law of the land – and I will be able to continue to afford my health insurance premium (thanks to the Obamacare subsidy).