Side Effects

I am taking a new medication for my rheumatoid arthritis, as it appears my previous one quit working. This new medication has some nifty side effects to it and is a bit harsher on my body than the previous one.

Two side effects have presented so far in the days I have been taking it—shortness of breath (and I am already a fairly shallow breather) and a splitting, nearly-migraine strength headache about an hour after ingesting the pill. Matter of fact, it is like clockwork when I get the headache.

So, I called the doctor’s office this morning to ask about the headaches. He got right back to me and said that this is common and should ease up after 3-4 weeks. So, for the next 17-24 days I can expect mind-numbing headaches twice a day.

Wheee.

I sometimes wonder about Western medicine. Yes, over the long term this medication may reduce the swelling and pain I experience due to the RA and may even help me regrow the lost bone mass in my joints. But is that worth the quality of life issue I have while it is helping me? Is it worth being cranky and irritable due to ice-pick headaches that start at the base of my skull and pound through to my temples and forehead?

And these are just the side effects from this one medication. I’m on three full-time and take two others as needed. It gets a bit frustrating. Of course, I hold out hope that in a month I will be writing to you that I am jogging again, or joining a softball team, or going hiking because the pain and swelling has eased so much.

But, for now, I think I’ll punch staples into my skull as that would hurt less than the headache I have right now.