u/BurdsAllBurds

I just had my 4th injection of 25 mg methotrexate last night. This is the 4th Monday I have spent just despondent, which is not my normal state of being. I also have the typical symptoms of nausea and headache and fatigue, which I can handle (normally). But, I don't find any source that lists "tearfully despairing at all your shortcomings and what could have been" as a side effect. Has anyone else experienced this and does it go away? This is a rough way to spend a day a week if it never ends.

I see people post blood values where many percentages of blood components (WBC, RBC, platelets etc) are all low. Since these are percentages, shouldn't some other values be high, since it is measuring presumably 100% of the components of blood? Or is the rest just plasma or substances not identified and measured in a blood draw?

Just as unpredictable and inexplicable as a flare, there is that (comparatively) good day, a temporary, transient, fleeting, but a joyous surprise. It always strikes me as the inverse of a flare (though it doesn't last as long). Is there a name for such a thing? What do you call it when the "good day fairy" surprises you?

After years of having inadequate care, I am now lucky enough to have 2 rheumatologists I love (long story why I have 2). They both graduated the same year from the same medical school (Harvard). They are the same age. I love and respect them both and on the whole they work well together. However, they have vastly different opinions on what autoimmune conditions I have, which medications I should be on, what the next tests should be, whether certain findings are significant, etc. Really, I don't think they agree on a single aspect of my care. I'm about to embark on methtrexate in hopes that Dr. A is right, not Dr. B. No wonder we, as patients, often feel lost at sea!

Our knowledge of autoimmune disease is still so nascent. It amazes me that we can transplant organs, perform amazing heart surgeries, finally regenerate some nerve tissue, and we're still at such a loss in our understanding of autoimmune disease.

Okay, not evil. But opportunistic to say the least.

My brother and I ate at an outdoor concession stand where crows and gulls were waiting in hope that somebody would drop a french fry or two. They had babes to feed and their need seemed particularly urgent.

I got up to dump my tray and left my brother still eating. He has multiple disabilities and, though he can move his arms and legs (and was using his hands to eat), he needs a wheelchair. He is virtually blind. As soon as I turned my back on him I thought noooo, that was a mistake. I looked back and a crow was already inches from my brother, honing in on his meal.

My brother is bigger than me, and his large wheelchair makes him an impressive presence to birds, so one might think. This crow was able to assess that his disability made him less able to fend off intruders, and that his meal was up for grabs.

I absolutely marvel at their intelligence here. If he were a child, I would more easily accept that they recognise helpless juveniles. Instead, they knew he was less able to defend his meal. I think they knew his vision was limited by the sneaky quiet posture the crow took beside his elbow (which he was moving to eat). They recognised his limitations and were waiting for exactly this opportunity.

We couldn't even be mad. We thought it was hilarious, and the interaction was an unexpected gift.

I am extremely happy to finally get appropriate testing and treatment options after 6 years, and thought I would jump at any treatment offered to me. I am lucky enough to have 2 rheumatologists at 2 different locations(long and boring story why). One would like to start immediately on methotrexate as a booster to my long term prednisone. I am of two minds. I am elated to have the chance to increase treatment and potentially have real relief and maybe something somewhat curative. I also recognise that methotrexate is a chemotherapy drug, and I did have a really rough time with chemo (albeit at much higher doses) to treat cancer in the past and chemo was possibly the catalyst for my current health problems. Different chemo, but "hair of the dog" doesn't seem like a super appealing way to go. I would love to hear personal experiences with the drug. Thanks!

I am almost 6 years in to a not yet diagnosed and increasingly disabling condition. I think I know what it is. My current rheumatologist says I certainly may be right based on the clinical and symptomological evidence. Yet, Because I am new to her, I have to do the same time consuming and expensive exploratory tests that I have already done, and that don't test for the thing I feel almost certain I have. I probably have other things as well, but I would like to get one clear diagnosis on my most disbaling condition.

I have had 4 different rheumatologists. Two moved away. One was quite useless so I changed. I just met number 4, who ordered the same tests the other 3 started with. I don't need 4 PT scans for an area that is not of concern. I don't need 4 brain MRI's. I don't need 4 EMG's. These are all normal. I need a biopsy and a specific MRI. Why do we have to follow the routine fact finding mission every time I switch providers? It's very expensive, and it depletes my most finite resource- my health.

I felt really listened to and agreed with during the entirety of my recent appointment, and then when the appointment ended I was shuffled out the door with orders for the exact testing I do not want, with no orders for what I thought we agreed upon. What happened? I tried to send a message through the nurses. All I got was "Well we checked with the doctor and this is what she wants you to do, and you can ask about next steps at your follow up appointment." In 3 months. 25% of another year.

How do you avoid the hamster wheel of useless testing when you have had to change doctors? And why don't doctors within the US pause to ask if you are comfortable footing an enormous bill for repeat procedures?

I love this spot, but watching people gleefully harm the waterfowl and other birds by feeding them all day is just breaking my heart. They're feeding them right next to the sign that says No Feeding. Yesterday someone was encouraging their kid to try to forcefeed the sandhill crane. The overpopulation right next the pier is so extreme that birds are fighting each other over food and space in a way that is so unnecessary with empty land around them. They are nesting close to the food source so goslings are piling on top of ducklings etc. If one bird gets avian flu there is going to be a massive bird wipeout. It's bolstering the cowbird population which harms nesting bird populations. And on and on.

I wish the Burnaby Lake staff took a stronger stance as well. The sign clearly isn't cutting it.

I am going away the end of May/ beginning of June and have 2 cats that will need some food, love and attention. I am really worried about hiring someone I don't know. If anyone has personal recommendations for anyone wonderful, I would love to hear about them! Thanks!

Would love personal experience stories. In the past, overdoing it has meant a couple weeks of more intense pain, and wall to wall couch time. Over the past few months, there have been quite a few unavoidable demands (things that can't be helped like sick/ injured family members). I don't know if I haven't been able to rest sufficiently between exertions, or if pushing through has set me back permanently- my pain, strength,, balance, brain power and eyesight just are nowhere near where they were before the demanding past few months (and they were pretty pathetic before that!). I am wondering if anyone has experineced permanent setbacks from the cumulative effects of too many exertions, or whether rest really does the trick.