Improved Quality of Life

This 48  year old woman presented to clinic today with crippling rheumatoid arthritis. She was a normal healthy young woman, when after childbirth, the pain in her joints began. Over the years, her disease progressed to a point where she is in constant pain, and can not perform normal activities of daily living. She described her quality of life as extremely poor, not even being able to hold utensils or a bowl to eat from. Her hand x-rays were a dramatic picture of what is going on inside her joints. Her external hands and feet are severely dis formed from progressive worsening disease. At first, even  the slightest manipulation of her hand joints caused her to wince in pain, thus we were not sure we could try to help her. After a few injections of lidocaine into one hand, we started the process of manipulating her joints. As I held down this very close to screaming woman, Bac Si Ha continued to work on her hand. After about 10 minutes of what looked like an excruciating experience, the woman had more control of her hands, even being able to squeeze a grip. She said she hasn't been able to fully grip with her hands in years.. The pain was awful, so we decided to schedule a follow-up visit in a few days to treat her opposite hand. As she left the clinic room, she picked up her handbag with ease in her newly functional hand. (She had to carry the handbag by squeezing it between her arms prior to our treatment.) Even though she went through this painful experience, I believe her quality of life is beginning to improve. Hopefully she will return in a few days, so we can continue to work on her.