The More You Know

I’ve been on amjevita (humira) for a few months now and it’s helped a lot! A lot of my trouble areas have improved so much that I don’t think about them much. It’s not 100% and probably never will be, but it’s good.

The two things it hasn’t helped with is the fatigue and my back/SI pain. I had some routine bloodwork done and I’m anemic. No big surprise there, I’ve been anemic most of my life and I take iron. But there have been several times in my life where the iron supplement didn’t do anything to move the needle. So my doctor had me do an iron infusion. I had one when I was pregnant with Zoey.

I definitely felt like I had more energy afterward. It lasted for about 3 weeks. It was nice! I don’t know how often I will need to do those. I am going to get my iron checked again soon. So, if you are feeling run down, even if you take an iron supplement, ask your doc about a test and whether iron infusions might be better! Some people just can’t absorb the pills I guess.

I had a follow up appointment with my rheumatologist and he’s happy with the medication so far. He did suggest we go to injections weekly for a month or two to see if that helps my back. (If this medication stops working, we are going to Cosentyx next. It’s a different class of biologics.)

Next up – Occupational Therapy! I didn’t know much about OT but I’d read that it is really helpful for people with arthritis. (Occupational therapists are trained to assist people to overcome various problems in order to live more independent lives. People may need assistance due to injury or illness, mental health problems, developmental delay or the effects of ageing.)

The focus of my OT was mostly hands and arms. She had me do a grip strength test. The picture above is the little device used. You hold it against your body and squeeze as hard as you can. My result was 35. Then hold it out straight and do it again. My result was 15. Apparently someone my age that number should be 70!!!

This was not something I even thought about in regards to my condition. While I’ve been dealing with swelling and stiffness in my fingers, I didn’t think I had “issues.” I was very surprised! This is very common with arthritis!

She gave me a few exercises to do to help get rid of the scar tissue in my forearm and to strengthen my hands. So another tip: if it feels like your grip strength is declining, if you are dropping things a lot (me), if it’s hard to open jars (me), ask to see an OT.

I got back in about a month to see how the exercises have helped!