After many months, I’m feeling much less pain and more in control of my life. Recently I met with a new doctor, a rheumatologist. He had me go for x-rays in my shoulders and hands, ordered blood tests to get up-to-date information, and after much questioning about my pain and health history, ordered a new drug.

Let me say, I hate taking pills—what a pain (pun intended). But I’m only getting partial relief from OTC medications. Yesterday I received the new medication by mail order, and wanted to be a responsible patient. Ordinarily, I do a lousy job of reading the side effect information; I rarely experience side effects. I figure if I break out in a rash, get dizzy, or it doesn’t help my symptoms, I need to try something else. But this time, I was going to be taking a pain medication that lists multiple ways that I could die or become debilitated. Just about every organ was listed. That might not be much different from many medications and their detriments, but I felt uneasy. Was I really in all that much pain? I’ve only taken one pill, and am hoping that taking it at night will help me sleep better with less pain.