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Waiting to See if My Treatment is Working

Last updated: December 2017

I do not treat PsA the same as I did when I was first diagnosed. In fact, my treatment plan has changed many times throughout the years. Some treatments helped for a couple of months, others didn’t help for more than a few weeks, and some did nothing at all.

Why do I feel fear when a treatment works?

I should feel joyful when I experience relief from a new treatment, but more often than not I am filled with fear. Is it really working or do I want it to work so badly that I am imagining the improvement? If it is working, how long will the relief last? I have learned to not allow myself to get my hopes up when I do experience relief. Don’t get me wrong, a lower pain level delights me, it’s just that I have a hard time accepting that there really is something out there that can improve my life when so many treatments have failed me.

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Has my new psoriatic arthritis treatment been working?

Until recently I have never experienced low levels of pain for more than 2 months at a time. I made some changes to my treatment plan earlier this year and I am kind of freaking out over the results. The pain level I experience on a daily basis from PsA has gone from 7-10 to 1-3! I held my breath for the first few weeks waiting for my winning streak to end, but it continued. There have been a few intense flares that caused me to doubt my improvements, but my pain level returns to the low range as soon as they pass. The consistency of experiencing less pain has surpassed any treatment I have tried in the past. Part of me is ecstatic while the other part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop.

How do we all view treatment differently?

I fully acknowledge that there isn’t a cure for PsA. But there are treatments that can improve our lives. For some, it may come from their doctor’s prescription pad and for others it’s a combination of alternative treatments.

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