Is This As Good As It Gets?

I will never forget the day my rheumatologist uttered the words “This is as good as it gets”. It had been a year since my diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis, and I was no better off than when I first saw my rheumatologist. Nothing I tried made a difference. Even worse was that every exercise I tried only seemed to make things worse. I spent my days and nights searching online and reading magazine articles that were filled with articles that claimed one form of exercise after another to reduce my pain. Yet nothing helped.

My pain was not improving

Frustrated and in tears, I asked my rheumatologist what he thought about the suggestions I had read about. I wanted to know if he thought they could help and if so, why weren’t they helping me? At this point in time, I was still under the impression that the severity of my symptoms would improve. That is until my rheumatologist replied to my question. The first thing he said was “I am sorry to tell you this, but this is as good as it gets.” He went on to say that most of what I was finding online and in health magazines was useless. He said that most of what I had found and/or tried would only aggravate my symptoms and/or cause more problems. On one hand, I was relieved to know that there was a reason why none of those “remedies” were helping me, but I was devastated because I felt like I was left without an ounce of hope.

Finally finding the right treatment for me

I spent 10 years believing that my pain level and quality of life would never improve. Had I continued to treat my conditions and symptoms pharmaceutically, my doctor would have been correct. However, he was wrong as he failed to consider natural alternatives. Once I began treating my conditions and symptoms naturally, I did experience improvement because I was no longer battling prescription side effects. The very medications that were supposed to make me feel better were only making me sicker. No longer combatting side effects with more medications, I have been able to focus on the source of my pain and symptoms.

I no longer live in the same state where this particular physician practices; otherwise I would pay him a visit and tell him that he was right and wrong. If I had continued to live and treat my conditions in the manner he was prescribing then he was right, my life would have never improved in any manner. However, he was wrong to take away my hope when there were natural alternatives that not only made it easier to pinpoint my sources of pain, but improved the quality of my life. While still living in pain, the past four years of my life have been my best years ever!