Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment

English 9
Miss Myers
Urban Legends Assignment
Victoria Evens, age 67, also known as Vicky to her family and friends went out to the drug store late one evening to get her prescription medication. She had rheumatoid arthritis in her left hand but it only came and went. After she walked inside and waited in line for about 20 minutes, she walked out of the doors only to find that three large men all wearing black were trying to steal her car!
She quickly walked to her car and pulled a pistol out of her handbag. She screamed, “I have a gun and I’m not afraid to use it!” The men had puzzled looks on their faces but ran away quickly. Vicky calmly walked into her car and was only slightly shaken. She’d taken to keeping a gun in her purse for safekeeping

I went to a spa on May 24th (Trillium Spa, Water Park of America). I got a deep tissue massage and even bought the oil used, because it smelled so good. After the massage, I took a shower to get the oils off of me. Three days later, I start getting infections all over my back. I thought it was an allergic reaction to the oil, however I have no allergies. At this point I had about 10+ all over my back where my massage was. They were painful, itchy, hot, and sore. I went to urgent care, after the the Benadryl and Allergy Creams weren’t working, and he said it did not look like an allergy. He cut one open and got a culture of it, taking 2 days get results. He put me on an antibiotic in the meantime. In that meantime, it got WAY worse. I had a fever, shortness of breath, irritable sleep, and there were 20+ sores all over my back. Some huge, some oozing of puss, some bright red, some scarred over. I cannot sit, stand, walk, move any part of my body without it hurting so painfully. I feel like my back is on fire. I get a call then with the results saying I have MRSA. The one person I live with got tested and does not have it (he also came w/ me and got a massage, w/ another massage therapist though). The doctor said to look into the spa and speak with the manager because the representative there is most likely not practicing good hygiene. I was diagnosed w/ Rheumatoid Arthritis at 10 years old, so I have a weakened immune system. My doctor said that the woman who gave me the massage was most likely carrying the bacteria, didn’t wash her hands before my massage, and it got transmitted to me, and because of my weak immune system, I broke out. The spa is closed and I left a message, the manager will be there tomorrow. This MRSA has caused me to take 3 days off work, endless hours of pain and restless sleep, lots of spending in creams/antibiotics/drugs, and I keep getting told to take some sort of legal action by friends and family as this is a severe matter (especially considering my weakened condition). Any thoughts, advice, anything would be oh so helpful. I feel so helpless and horrible inside and out. Thanks so much!

Symptoms:
- severe swelling in both knees
- severe stiffness and lack of mobility in right wrist
- right side of jaw is being affected
- right shoulder SOMETIMES is tender
Now I know I’ll get a lot of ‘go to your doctor” I have and they can’t find ANYTHING wrong. They’ve drawn fluid from the knees and it only shows that it’s inflammed! I notice that these symptoms occur 4 to 6 months after I’ve had a baby. Had arthoscopic surgery done and the knees are ‘perfect’. My doctors wrote it off as Rheumatoid Arthritis,however NONE of the medication I’ve been given worked for pain or swelling, the only thing that seemed to work was to drain fluid and give me a cortisone shot. I DON”T LIKE THAT. Now I’ve been taking 2 Motrins and 2 Alevees and they help with my mobility and pain considerably. don’t want to be on drugs all the time. If anyone can honestly help PLEASE DO. Thanks for any advice that is given.

This research report is getting graded on sentence fluency, organization and conventions. I don’t like the part about the serious effects.. its too long, but i need some ideas about what to do with it. Could you please proofread this and make changes where needed?
Ibuprofen
Have you thought about the effects ibuprofen can have on you? Not only are the long-term effects startling, but some of the short-term ones are as well. Understanding what ibuprofen is and how it works increases your knowledge of the risks you take every time you use ibuprofen.
Ibuprofen comes from a group of drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (http://www.drugs.com/ubuprofen.html). NSAIDs relieve pain and inflammation due to damage done to muscles, ligaments, and joints. It is a nonopid analgesic. This means you have insensibility to pain without the loss of consciousness (Goldmann 894).
Ibuprofen is used for many things. It can be used to relieve pain from surgical or dental work (http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-new… Use-of-Ibuprofen-Safe-for-Short-Periods-… People with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and gouty arthritis often use ibuprofen as a pain reliever. Often it is used to reduce fever, headaches, muscle aches, common cold, toothaches, and backaches. It is also used for inflammation. Ibuprofen can help reduce swelling and tenderness (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/drugi…
You may be wondering how this drug works. When your tissue is damaged your body naturally releases hormones called prostaglandins. These hormones are your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. Prostaglandins are what cause fevers, inflammation and pain. They cause the blood vessels to widen and leak fluid. White blood cells then move into the tissue. This makes the area red and swollen. When you take ibuprofen it stops your body’s production of prostaglandins, thereby reducing the pain and inflammation. The blood vessels return to normal, and the swelling and redness decreases (Goldmann 895) (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/drugi…
This medication, due to the way it works, can actually cause more problems then you had before. There are both common side effects and serious side effects. It is important to know which are which. Common side effects aren’t something you need to worry too much about. These include: upset stomach, mild heartburn, diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas, dizziness, headache, nervousness, skin itching or rash, blurred vision, and ringing in your ears. Serious side effects include: chest pain, weakness, shortness of breath, slurred speech, problems with vision or balance, coughing up blood or vomit that looks like coffee grounds, swelling or rapid weight gain, nausea, stomach pain, low fever, loss of appetite, jaundice, which is yellowing of the skin or eyes, sore throat, headache with a severe tingling, numbness, pain, muscle weakness, and neck stiffness, chills, increased sensitivity to light, purple spots on the skin and/or seizures. If you experience serious side effects, you should stop taking this medication immediately and seek medical attention or call your doctor as soon as possible. Talk to your doctor about any unusual or bothersome side effects (http://www.drugs.com/ibuprofen.html).
When ibuprofen is used for long periods of time, it can have serious side effects on your stomach and intestines. Bleeding and perforation, the forming of a hole, can occur in your stomach lining with long use. Also using it for long periods of times it can increase your risk of a heart attack and circulation problems. Strokes and even death can occur due to the use of ibuprofen. The longer you use ibuprofen, the higher your risks become (http://www.healthline.com/multumcontent/… (http://www.drugs.com/ibuprofen.html).
It has been proven that when ibuprofen is used for a short period of time, less then a year, it is safe. Although, when used for a long period of time, more than a year, it can be very harmful. You should limit smoking and alcohol consumption during use of ibuprofen. Also, using this drug as recommended increases its safety. The smallest effective dose should be used to treat your pain and swelling (http://www.drugs.com/ibuprofen.html) (http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-new…
Ibuprofen, when used correctly, can be a very affective and useful drug. On the flip side, if overused, it can be harmful. Understanding what ibuprofen is and how it works increases your knowledge of the risks you take every time you use ibuprofen. Next time you have a minor headache maybe you will rethink taking unnecessary medication.

I have rheumatoid arthritis, and because I take methotrexate I have blood drawn monthly to check for liver damage.
On Saturday, I went for my lab work but wouldn’t bleed. My blood was thick-almost like syrup-and I was unable to give the required 2 tubes.
I’m normally a bleeder, and this was highly unusual.
The other drugs I take are 5 mgs prednisone, zantac, and 2400 mgs of ibuprofen daily.