The Rheumatologist's verdict

In short he basically confirmed what my regular doc and I have figured out. I have rheumatoid arthritis. The psoriasis affects my neck in addition to my fibromyalgia being severe. Fothermucker!

The things I'm doing already, walks, hikes, knitting, moving about as much as possible and normal everyday chores are what he would recommend me doing, which is a good thing. Another good thing is that as long as I'm still able to move my fingers and the new meds I've got is helping, I don't need to start any injections directly into my joints just yet. Huzzah! I'll need to go back for regular checkups, but pfft, I can handle that.

He talked a bit about fibro, he pointed out that it is under no circumstances an imagined illness, nor was it related to any psychiatric disorders - at least not in my case, which, I have to say, was rather nice to hear. I've been met with some rather nasty comments from other doctors and so called expert up through the years. He then basically repeated what I've been told before, that even though I my fibro is severe, the fact that I've practiced karate and kept fit most of my adult life, is a huge advantage. I still have more muscle mass than most women my age. He had me do all sorts of things and measured my strength and whatnot. Fun!

The bad thing is that my neck issues won't get better and all I can do is work to slow down the worsening of it by keeping up what I'm doing.

That was all I had time for. Life is busy. I'm expecting my brother in law Thomas to deliver Vera(the golden retriever pup) any minute. We're babysitting her the rest of the week.