Even though I have multiple ongoing health issues, seeing my doctors on a pretty regular basis wasn’t a part of my life until earlier this year. Most of my health issues are things that only require one or two doctor appointments a year. But earlier this year I started seeing my dermatologist regularly for a few different issues I was trying to get under control.
The main thing I’ve been working on with my doctor is my autoimmune condition. I go back and forth with calling it autoimmune or inflammatory, because it can be classified either way. But no matter what it is, it’s annoying and can be very painful. And this year, I’ve been trying new ways to try to get it under control and possibly in remission.
I have tried a few different medications this year, but there’s one that I’ve been on for most of the year. But you can’t be on it forever, so at my last appointment, I had to stop the medication and just try one other one I’ve been on. So when I went in for another follow-up appointment last week, it was to see how I’m doing and continue working on a plan for helping me.
Unfortunately, my condition has flared up significantly since my last appointment. It’s not as bad as it was before I started working with my doctor, but it was worse than last time. I told my doctor that if before starting medications I was at a 10 and at my last appointment I was at a 1, I was probably at a 4 or 5 right now. And I also am dealing with a bit of stress right now, and stress can make everything worse. I’m still doing better than I was from the start, but it’s frustrating to have such a setback.
But I was reminded that my body is also getting used to coming off a medication I was taking for about 10 months, and there can be a bit of a reaction to that. So that did make me feel better.
And my doctor and I did discuss next steps. There are a few treatments that were discussed before that he doesn’t think would be a smart choice for me anymore (including one that would put me in an immunocompromised state). We discussed one medication I was on before and I didn’t like the side effects, and he understood why I wouldn’t want to try it again. And then he discussed surgery with me.
Surgery doesn’t necessarily make my condition go away, but it would treat the parts of my body that are affected by it and it can be a permanent fix. Because the places on my body where I have flares would essentially be turned into scar tissue, I wouldn’t have the ability to have the same issues. But this is not an easy surgery. There would be weeks of recovery and allowing my body to heal very large wounds. I know this could have the best results for me, but I’m hesitant to do it since it wouldn’t stop everything. It would just make the spots that are the worst on my body no longer be like that.
But there is no need for me to rush to decide anything about surgery. I will have another follow-up appointment in about a month and a half to see how I’m doing. And maybe there will be other treatment options we discuss then or maybe my doctor will recommend I at least have an initial appointment with the surgeon who could operate on me. I’m not sure what the next steps will be, but just like I’ve been doing this year, I’m just going to continue to try to work on this and get my body and my autoimmune condition in a better place.
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