THE APS, THE RHEUMATOLOGIST AND

THE PINK PILL THAT BECAME MY BEST FRIEND

I was at ropes end. My health spiraled into a nightmare! I thought that this was how I’m going to feel for the rest of my life! With APS one doesn’t have a life worth living for. I would be better of just dying!

I was wrong!

My husband took this “sick broken” body of mine, one that suffered more pain than some people suffered in a life time, to a rheumatologist.  I thought that this was just “another” doctor. Because I’ve seen every one from GP’s to Neurologists and not one of them could help me. I’d lost all my trust in doctors.

So there I was sitting in the rheumatologist’s consulting rooms waiting for the “what are you talking about?” expression on his face when I told him that I’ve got APS and the terrible symptoms I was suffering.  But to my surprise he knew exactly what APS was and understood the symptoms I was suffering from. And for the first time in years there was a light at the end of the tunnel for me!

He knew what pain I was going through. He understands how APS works, plus here’s the best part… he knew how to treat APS! And believe me, sadly there are just a handful of practitioners that know about APS!

He was surprised that I was only using Ecotrin, giving all the symptoms I had. I had constant migraines, severe fatigue, muscle and joint pains. He described me as a person on the verge of having a stroke! He even suggested that I might have suffered small strokes already without knowing about it! Because there is a link between migraines and strokes!

After a thorough examination, he wrote me a prescription that included Wafarin. And I just panicked. Wafarin! I heard that Wafarin could make you very sick and it is very dangerous to use. I was scared to death to use wafarin. But my friend Jane Martin who also suffers from APS and runs the APS foundation, told me: “That little pink pill will become your best friend!” At first I didn’t believe her.

But I started using the Wafarin, in combination with Clexane (to kick start the wafarin), Ecotrin, Plasmaquine (an anti-malaria drug that is wonderful for relieving pain and fatigue) and Tripilene as the rheumatologist prescribed. And within 3 days I was resurrected out of my “old, painful, dead life” into the person I was ten years ago!

Could this be true? I remember thinking, that this is just a coincidence that I feel better today. But after a month I still feel wonderful. No migraines, no muscle pains, no joint pains, I feel more alive than ever before!

Thanks to a very special rheumatologist Dr Solomon from the Donald Gordon medical centre and Wafarin (the pink pill that became my best friend) I have my life back!

So if you suffer from APS, please go and see a rheumatologist! They know about APS and they know how to treat it!

There is help out there!

For Jane… thank you for saving my life by urging me to go and see Dr Solomon!

Your APS friend

CARINA POTGIETER