Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Wow Paul I will definitely pray for you that God heals everything on your body.

I have one injury and thought that was bad with a limp. Question what Podiatrist have you gone to that's really good? I'm seeing a Podiatrist Monday with my problem here locally (Pocatello, Idaho), but I would really like to see one that's a runner. I might need a second opinion if I have an issue and I would be willing to go anywhere for a second opinion. I'm trying to make sure that I know what would be the best step next if I don't care for the Podiatrist here.

Thanks in Advance.

The only podiatrist I have seen in Logan I really don't like, so I can't help you there. Best of luck.

Paul, I really hope this does the trick for you. Have a good weekend.

Glad to hear your insurance is pony-ing up. Hope it all works so you can get back to kicking our butts pain-free.

Thanks. I'm not really concerned with kicking anyone's butt anymore. Mostly I just want to make sure I can lift my kid over my head, play catch, wrestle around, and avoid disability over the 10 years. Hard to do all that with my neck fused into my chest or with a fake hip. Running is just gravy.

Yes, but if you can run then it means everything else must be pretty good, too. So I hope you can run, on top of everything else improving.

I hope it helps so you can enjoy life:) Keep us posted.

Paul, my sister injected enbrel for her psoriatic arthritis for a couple years, it worked miracles. And like I mentioned, her arthritis just disappeared one day, and she has been symptom free for years now not taking any medication. A real miracle, and I am hoping the same for you. Keep taking that cod liver oil!!

Red - that's the story I hear from most people, usually "Enbrel/Remicade/Humira is a miracle drug and gave me my life back" or something like that. That's great your sister is having a med-free remission. Unfortunately, all studies show that A.S. patients have symptoms return after discontinuing a biologic, virtually every time. But I will take a medical remission at this point as well.

Do autoimmune diseases run in your family? Just asking, since you mentioned your sister. My grandfather had rheumatoid, and I recently found out that one of his cousins has a spondylitis of some sort. It would crush me if I passed something down to my kid. But there's lots of exciting research and developments with stem cells right now, so perhaps there's good things to come.

Paul,

When is see what you are going through it truly makes my recovery from knee surgery a minor thing. I am just happy to be running again. Hopefully your latest treatment really makes a difference for you. I hope to see you at some races later this year. Thanks for the words of encouragement as well.

Paul, If you don't mind I going to mention you in our prayer request at Church if you don't mind? Your a wonderful person and that's extremely more important than running.

Question Jon mentioned me to ask you about Dr. Lyons. Jon said he's a runner and a general doctor, would he be sometime I could reference to take a look at my foot?

Paul, yes, there is a history of autoimmune problems in my family. My father has severe psoriasis, my sister got psoriatic arthritis, my mother had severe asthma, and I got this great sudden sensorineural hearing loss, which is probably autoimmune and related as well. But I have no signs of arthritis.

But, you'll probably find similar instances in every single family, autoimmune things are so common, and the genetic links are hard to pin down. And like I mentioned before, I think that there is a strong dietary/environmental link to these things, including vitamin D, sunshine, and environmental toxins/pollutants. So I doubt your kids will be any more predisposed to AI disorders than any one else so I wouldn't worry about that in the least. Make sure they get plenty of vitamin D though.

Ted - I hope to see you at many races this year as well! The thought makes me smile.

Kory - sure, I certainly appreciate all prayers. Regarding Dr. Lyons, yes he is a good sports doctor and probably has a good knowledge base for feet. He'll probably see a more holistic solutation than a pod dr. He's not a podiatrist by specialty, but he's probably better than the pod they have on staff there. Cody saw a podiatrist in Logan that he seemed to like. I don't remember his name though, so you may want to ask him.

Red - in my case, it's the genetic marker HLA-B27. 90% of people with A.S. have this gene, although only about 10% of people with the gene get A.S., so indeed the environmental trigger is a big deal. I think HLA-B27 is also a marker for Chron's and PsA, which is why many people with A.S. get these other diseases too. New studies have also recently pinned IL-12/23 as other genetic indicator, and new medications will work to suppress these. I don't understand all this stuff, but it's good to see new discoveries.

I think I will look into another Vitamin D supplement, as well as calcium. People with A.S. are more prone to osteoporosis (for whatever reason, maybe the fusion issue), so I should really get my act together for this, especially since I don't eat dairy.

Paul, I don't know anything about the genetic markers, I should look into this. The only thing my father's psoriasis responds to is UV light and vitamin D based ointments, reinforcing my views on vitamin D. Strangely, I started to develop psoriasis as a teenager, then at age 18 it went away and never reappeared, ever. Then the deal with my sister and the PA. But then I lost all my hearing in what is probably a link according to the doctors. Strange stuff. Sounds like the enbrel is already doing it's magic for you. I remember my sister hated the injections, but got used to it. I remember before she took it she could barely move her hands her arthritis was so bad.

Paul, Out of curiosity I searched HLA-B27 on PubMed which is the on-line database of all medical publications. Anyway there were 3758 papers published on that marker. So there are a number of doctors and researchers obviously very interested in figuring this out. I hope it is sooner than later. In fact there was a review right at the end of '08 highlighting that additional markers have been identified. These other markers are directly involved in inflammation and will help bring a whole new dimension to how treatments may be combined. Specifically, I copied this sentence out of the summary.

"...; evidence of a pivotal role for several proinflammatory cytokines including interleukins 23 and 17; and the recognition that inflammation and structural progression proceed separately from each other." This may mean that new and/or combined treatments are close on the horizon.

Red - fortunately, the injection didn't really hurt at all. I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Adam - yeah, lots of HLA-B27 stuff out there. The IL-17/23 discovery is quite new, and together with the HLA-B27 can explain a very large percentage of A.S. There are several drugs in trial phase that address IL-17/23, and I think one has been approved in Canada.