Originally Posted by ramonajim

Depends on how you define 'survive.'

I've actually got my Enbrel syringe sitting on my keyboard, warming to room temp so that it doesn't hurt like a sum***** when I inject it. Getting that in tonight means tomorrow I take my methotrexate.

Just swallowed my twice-daily dose of loritadine.

This morning, I coated my face, neck, and arms with sunscreen.

If I had to give up my Enbrel and methotrexate, my mobility would be dramatically reduced. This I know, because any time I get an infection, I have to go off these drugs until the infection is cleared. If I'm off this cocktail for more than a couple weeks, I start reverting to painful existence I had for 20+ years before finding these drugs. In addition, off these drugs my iritis and macular edema are far more likely to flare up. Being blind sucks (went there once for a short while during a particularly bad bout of the macular edema), but being blind does not equal unable to survive.

Lose the loritadine, and I get miserable here in CT pretty much full time for ~ 4 months (severe grass allergies - pretty much anything people plant as lawn, I'm allergic to). In southern CA, this was a nuisance. Out here, it hits the point of 'Jim is useless' at times.

Sunscreen? Has become a necessity in my humble opinion. This opinion became pretty firmly planted after having 26 spots frozen off my face and shoulders. Oh - and one pre-cancerous lump removed from my nose.

So - losing my regimen of modern medicine won't cause me to drop dead tomorrow. Be miserable (fiery swords down the back of both legs with every step pretty much sucks), yeah. Drop dead sooner than I would have otherwise, most likely.

This from a guy who will never, ever forget that western doctors 'practice' medicine. Collectively, they've been at it for hundreds of years. Individually, they go to school forever, and yet they never get past the 'practicing' stage.