BRAEK FROM REALITY:
Tonight, despite being in so much agony that I just wanted to go to bed as soon as I got home from work, I took Connor to Spot Coffee to see Break of Reality. They are a group of 3 cellists and 1 drummer who got thier start at Eastman School of Music. They play "alternative" cello. They do covers of metal bands such as Metallica (my personal fav), Slayer, and Helloween. They also write thier own stuff. They are really good. It was nice to get out and have a little fun, although we had to get there an hour early to make sure that I could actually have a chair. Needles to say, Connor was bored but we had good company to talk with. Paula, the director of his school was there along with the former asst. director and her husband.
Talking with the Paula, I discovered that she knows someone who has RA and is on the dairy-free gluten-free diet and she has seen great improvements in her condition. That's definately uplifting. Especially since I miss cheese so much and have not found a tastey alternative.
GUINEA PIG DAY 1:
Today I went for my official first study-drug appointment. I was given 2 bottles of pills. I have to take one from each bottle twice a day. So 2 pills in the AM and 2 pills in the PM. Basically, I could have one of the following combinations in the bottles:
1. placebo, placebo
2. placebo, 5mg
3. placebo, 10mg
4. 5mg, 5mg
All of the bottles are labeled "placebo" so who knows what I have. They said if I have the drug in any combination, I could notice a difference in as little as 2 weeks. Advil is up to me. If I take it, I risk not knowing if the drug is working or not. If I don't take it, I risk more pain. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.
It does take some time on a gluten/dairy free diet to notice the changes. Within two months of going on an elimination diet, my sed rates were back within normal which wasn't happening with medications. Remember gluten and dairy can be found almost everywhere and even a little bit can cause set backs. I wish you well with the diet and the study!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Cathy. I actually had to eat dairy for a day because i almost didn't make it into the study because my sed rates went down.....and I wasn't on any meds! One day of putting dairy back into my system (a couple of slices of cheese, some ranch dressing, and an icecream sandwich) and it was enough to send my sed rate up 8 points. I was actually excited! I've been completely dairy free for a little over a month and I definately notice the difference. It's the gluten that's hard to work around. my husband and kids are vegetarian and all meat subs have gluten in them.
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