Things seem like they're about to get bad

[Jamdoc]

Well, first off, my liver enzymes are getting too high and so my Rheumatologist wants to drop methotrexate and see if my liver enzymes come back into normal range. If they do, well then we drop one medication that was keeping my disease in remission, and if it doesn't well then my liver's been damaged and matters are even worse. But in the mean time, I have to drop it for a few weeks, and just.. risk falling out of remission and into full blown flares again.

To make matters worse, my mother wants to move across the country to be near my sister and her 3 children, it's understandable but.. I don't have the means or capability to live on my own. I lived with the untreated disease LOOKING for effective treatment for years, the damage piled up to where I'm disfigured and have bone spurs that make walking difficult for more than a few hundred feet at a time... so I'm dependent just to live, disabled and even if I was financially independent, I'm not physically capable of a lot of tasks. The issue is. one of the drugs that I also use to keep myself in remission the past few years.. is medical marijuana. My sister lives in a state where it's illegal, even medically.

So while my mother is convinced that the cops would just look the other way and that I can somehow find access to it like a college student, I'm not, it'd be going against Romans 13 as it is.. so we're looking at me suddenly losing 2 out of 3 medications to control my condition. The 3rd.. does the least amount of good, like it helps for general stiffness but does not prevent, or alleviate acute flares.

Prayer for healing has been ignored, for years and years and years.

I don't know how I'm supposed to bear with years of my immune system actively torturing my body with no end in sight aside from dying. The only thing that kept me going the first time around for years was actively seeking effective treatment.. but now that we found effective treatment and the plug is being pulled on it.... I got nothing.

So my options seem like.....
1. Keep telling my mom to be more patient, wait for the laws to change, and see if we can find a replacement for methotrexate, in which case I feel like I'm unduly burdening my family, I admit, it's not fair for me to expect her not to move.
2. Make the move with her and just.. suffer. I don't know how much of it I'll be able to bear.
3. Stay here but be homeless, without a vehicle, and I have no idea what would happen to me... probably freeze to death. I suppose there is options for homeless veterans but.. on federal government property, and without the means to acquire MMJ and it'd be illegal on the federal government property I'm left in the same condition as making the move, suffering because my disease comes out of remission and goes full blown again.

I just don't know how to go back to full blown disease, but this time no hope of finding treatment, just.. suffer and hope I die soon I guess. That kind of pain for months on end.. it exhausts you, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, you just stop wanting to live.
It doesn't build character unless "bitter and exhausted and not wanting to live" is character.

It's not suffering for my faith so it's not like I can look forward to rewards for going through it.. it's just.. suffering from a fallen world, and there's no reward for that.

it's just fruitless suffering, pointless suffering.

 

[Jamdoc]

I guess by now I should learn to recognize these things aren't happening at the same time by coincidence. It's not the first time God has visibly moved his hand in my life.... to hit me.

 

[Jesus is my Superhero]

I guess by now I should learn to recognize these things aren't happening at the same time by coincidence. It's not the first time God has visibly moved his hand in my life.... to hit me.

Jamdoc, perhaps you are being tested. "Where there is no hope, the people perish." Perseverance, patience and trust in God almighty is what is needed at this time, in the midst of a trial. Have you tried fasting and prayer with thanksgiving which is a form of giving glory to God?
This too shall pass. Stand firm in the moment. I'll continue to pray for you.

Edit #1: My last trial lasted 7 years and two questions surfaced from the depths of my consciousness;

1. What am I suppose to be learning?
2. How fast can I learn this lesson?

 

[Diamond72]

So my options seem like.....

There is only one option. Pray non stop until you start to get results.

 

[Jamdoc]

There is only one option. Pray non stop until you start to get results.

for some the result is "my grace is sufficient"

 

[Diamond72]

for some the result is "my grace is sufficient"

Yes, the Grace of God does a work in us to transform us into the people He wants us to be.

 

[Jamdoc]

Yes, the Grace of God does a work in us to transform us into the people He wants us to be.

and yet it didn't heal Paul's affliction, nor does it heal mine. as I said. chronic pain wears you away, it does not make you stronger in any means. It makes you weaker in every mean.

 

[Diamond72]

yet it didn't heal Paul's affliction, nor does it heal mine.

That is what we call a negative confession of faith. God is not going to be doing for us what we need to be doing for ourselves. I wish He would but that does not seem to be what this world is all about. We have been given dominion and authority and we need to learn how to use what we have been given.

It is tempting to cheat though. Oxytocin is very good for pain control. What we do to stimulate that may not always be a part of God's plan for us. Maybe we need to quit cheating and trust God if we want Him to heal us.

 

[Jamdoc]

That is what we call a negative confession of faith. God is not going to be doing for us what we need to be doing for ourselves. I wish He would but that does not seem to be what this world is all about. We have been given dominion and authority and we need to learn how to use what we have been given.

It is tempting to cheat though. Oxytocin is very good for pain control. What we do to stimulate that may not always be a part of God's plan for us. Maybe we need to quit cheating and trust God if we want Him to heal us.

Paul asked, Paul was refused.

When Jesus suffered, He asked God why He had been forsaken, and even before, He asked God if there was ANY other way, while He sweat blood. He didn't go to the cross just singing and dancing and praising the Lord, He went obediently but not joyfully.

When Job suffered he cursed the day he was even born.

as for doing for myself, That's what I was trying to do, the options I had available to me, see a doctor, take medications, try different medications, try different dosages, trying to find something or a combination of something's that worked. Now He is having them taken away, and I start from square 1, and I've asked, and He's refused.

I don't know what good or what profit is accomplished by me being bedridden in pain but that is the likely destination.

 

[Diamond72]

Paul asked, Paul was refused.

Paul himself wrote about a "thorn in his flesh" that he asked God to remove three times, but God's response was, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9).

So, in this instance, it could be said that God didn't refuse to heal Paul, but rather allowed him to endure this weakness for the sake of his own personal growth and the demonstration of God's power.

I was taught you keep praying. God does not ever disappoint us. Even though we think He is going to. Also sometimes we have to wait, He does not always answer right away.

I do not want to tell God how to do His job. So I just trust Him that He will work it all out for me. We have to be careful we do not grumble and complain and call that prayer. We need to enter in through worship and praise.

Jesus told us to pray Thy Will be Done, Thy Kingdom come. So that is how we need to pray. I am afraid things will not work out, but they do when we pray.

 

[Jamdoc]

*sigh* my mom couldn't sleep tonight, and said, that it was unfair to my sister, and unfair to her, and just.. loaded on the guilt.
Like not even waiting for my normal prescription medication situation to get sorted out she just wants to put the house on the market and move asap.
I'm just being expected to grit my teeth and bear it, and just.. get established all the way across the country with a new doctor and go through the whole trial and error trying to get meds that work again, with the ones that I know do work closed on me.

First I'll have to get set up with the VA there, then I'll have to get a normal primary care appointment and a referral to a rheumatologist which, they'll probably want to try standard medications there first So maybe in a year after the move I can get into a rheumatologist, and actually start working on medications that might help.

I can't take years of untreated disease. It makes me want to die just thinking about it.

just to be clear when I say "want to die" it doesn't mean "want to kill myself" I'm not about to do that for 2 reasons:

1. It's not my decision to make I have been purchased
2. It's bad enough trying to convince my family of the gospel, they are all very hardened, scarily so, I fear for them as it is, if I were to do that, any small chance of them coming to faith dies.

So while I might do the Elijah thing of just praying for God to kill me, I wouldn't take action against myself.

 

[Second Time is the Charm]

Paul asked, Paul was refused.

When Jesus suffered, He asked God why He had been forsaken, and even before, He asked God if there was ANY other way, while He sweat blood. He didn't go to the cross just singing and dancing and praising the Lord, He went obediently but not joyfully.

When Job suffered he cursed the day he was even born.

as for doing for myself, That's what I was trying to do, the options I had available to me, see a doctor, take medications, try different medications, try different dosages, trying to find something or a combination of something's that worked. Now He is having them taken away, and I start from square 1, and I've asked, and He's refused.

I don't know what good or what profit is accomplished by me being bedridden in pain but that is the likely destination.

I know exactly what you mean. God has given me a certain pain that won't go away. So I lean on Him and what really helps me is to look forward to the day where I either go home to Him or He comes back to collect us (more like for me though, I'll probably get called home first before He comes back to collect everybody else). I'll keep you in my prayers.

 

[Richard.20.12]

Well, first off, my liver enzymes are getting too high and so my Rheumatologist wants to drop methotrexate and see if my liver enzymes come back into normal range. If they do, well then we drop one medication that was keeping my disease in remission, and if it doesn't well then my liver's been damaged and matters are even worse. But in the mean time, I have to drop it for a few weeks, and just.. risk falling out of remission and into full blown flares again.

To make matters worse, my mother wants to move across the country to be near my sister and her 3 children, it's understandable but.. I don't have the means or capability to live on my own. I lived with the untreated disease LOOKING for effective treatment for years, the damage piled up to where I'm disfigured and have bone spurs that make walking difficult for more than a few hundred feet at a time... so I'm dependent just to live, disabled and even if I was financially independent, I'm not physically capable of a lot of tasks. The issue is. one of the drugs that I also use to keep myself in remission the past few years.. is medical marijuana. My sister lives in a state where it's illegal, even medically.

So while my mother is convinced that the cops would just look the other way and that I can somehow find access to it like a college student, I'm not, it'd be going against Romans 13 as it is.. so we're looking at me suddenly losing 2 out of 3 medications to control my condition. The 3rd.. does the least amount of good, like it helps for general stiffness but does not prevent, or alleviate acute flares.

Prayer for healing has been ignored, for years and years and years.

I don't know how I'm supposed to bear with years of my immune system actively torturing my body with no end in sight aside from dying. The only thing that kept me going the first time around for years was actively seeking effective treatment.. but now that we found effective treatment and the plug is being pulled on it.... I got nothing.

So my options seem like.....
1. Keep telling my mom to be more patient, wait for the laws to change, and see if we can find a replacement for methotrexate, in which case I feel like I'm unduly burdening my family, I admit, it's not fair for me to expect her not to move.
2. Make the move with her and just.. suffer. I don't know how much of it I'll be able to bear.
3. Stay here but be homeless, without a vehicle, and I have no idea what would happen to me... probably freeze to death. I suppose there is options for homeless veterans but.. on federal government property, and without the means to acquire MMJ and it'd be illegal on the federal government property I'm left in the same condition as making the move, suffering because my disease comes out of remission and goes full blown again.

I just don't know how to go back to full blown disease, but this time no hope of finding treatment, just.. suffer and hope I die soon I guess. That kind of pain for months on end.. it exhausts you, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, you just stop wanting to live.
It doesn't build character unless "bitter and exhausted and not wanting to live" is character.

It's not suffering for my faith so it's not like I can look forward to rewards for going through it.. it's just.. suffering from a fallen world, and there's no reward for that.

it's just fruitless suffering, pointless suffering.

Talking about arthritis is pointless without mentioning your diet. What do you eat and what do you never eat? Hint: Its all about blood sugar levels. So if you want improvement be ready for some big changes in your probable high glycemic diet. No more white bread/rice/pasta. No more sweeteners. Only a little fresh fruit. Your focus should be raw vegetables: Especially those with low net carbs. Zero fried foods and salt. Thnk of real food in small quanties. Not manufactured food packed with preservatives. What is the oldest preservative? Salt. Why do we get so thirsty if we consume salty foods? Its the body using water to rid itself of that salt. We need sodium (present in many natural foods) not sodium chloride (salt/NaCl) which causes all kinds of problems. Protein should also be low, about 50g/day.

Want relief? Prepare to change. That's the price. Most people don't have the faith in themselves and their God to try eating foods the way they were originally created. It does work. You will see a change in as little as 24 hours and it will just get better and better. Water fasting (like many in the Bible did) hugely accelerates the process.

 

[Jamdoc]

I allow myself to have red meat about once per month if I'm in remission but otherwise avoid it, I avoid refined sugars except 2 tbsp a day in coffee (2 12oz cups), I avoid wheat and rice
I already avoid foods I enjoy, is the answer really eat foods that I utterly hate cause, honestly, that's just switching 1 reason to want to die to another, if it even worked.

I also avoid a lot of fruits as they can flare me up from being too sweet. Oranges, grapes, can't have them. Beans and legumes, can't have those.

 

[Richard.20.12]

I guess by now I should learn to recognize these things aren't happening at the same time by coincidence. It's not the first time God has visibly moved his hand in my life.... to hit me.

99.9% of the time people's disease is their diet hitting them. And their lethargy. Don't blame God! He gave us an exceptional body. All we have to do is take care of it.

 

[Richard.20.12]

I allow myself to have red meat about once per month if I'm in remission but otherwise avoid it, I avoid refined sugars except 2 tbsp a day in coffee (2 12oz cups), I avoid wheat and rice
I already avoid foods I enjoy, is the answer really eat foods that I utterly hate cause, honestly, that's just switching 1 reason to want to die to another, if it even worked.

I also avoid a lot of fruits as they can flare me up from being too sweet. Oranges, grapes, can't have them. Beans and legumes, can't have those.

I can see by your vocabulary that you haven't read much on the subject and are just regurgitating mainstream health advisories that work so poorly. Well? Have they worked for you? No! So why not take a different approach? One closer to the natural world.

There's nothing wrong with red meat. The problem is the steroids and growth hormones in all meats sold that are non-organic. So eliminate steroids from your food intake. Go organic.

Next is the problem of frying. So many people don't realize how bad it is because of the very high temperatures involved that dramatically change the fat making it far harder for our bodies to process. Steam or boil or, even better, eat it raw. If you eat meat or fish raw make sure its been frozen at commercial freezing temperatures for a while to get rid of any chance of parasites.

Coffee is a diuretic and will dehydrate you. It also blocks some absorption of food nutrients. Get caffeine out of your life. Its also highly addictive and makes it impossible to water fast because of the migraines most people get from caffeine withdrawal. Best way is to gradually reduce consumption and never go back to where you were. In a month it should be out of your life with a minimum of fuss. Then learn where caffeine lurks: Green tea and some other teas, some pop, many energy bars/drinks....just do consume anything packaged and you don't have to read any label. Not that any sane person would consume garbage like that..........

You can't have a gram of sugar. No honey, maple syrup, barley malt....no sweeteners. Dump them because you do NOT need them. You do have a spine. Use it. Say no. Sweeteners make us crave for more sweets. Its a downward spiral. Fruit in small quantities (avoiding citrus which can spike your blood sugar very fast) is fine. Look at the net carbs of whatever fruits you tend to consume. You may be surprised as to the huge differences in their net carb levels. Note: Net carbs is what you need to know, not just "carbs". Fiber is your friend.

There's also nothing wrong with wheat and rice. Just refined grains like WHITE bread, WHITE rice, WHITE pasta. Dump them. Think of this: Bugs don't eat refined grains. Bugs are smarter than a lot of people! They avoid them because there are no nutrients in them. Plus a refined carb spikes your blood sugar. No wonder you're suffering consuming foods like this. This is no surprise at all. Instead get wheat kernels (looks like brown rice only darker) and boil them. Best wheat ever. Or if you like bread get whole wheat flour and water and knead it and roll it into a flat bread about 1/8" thick and bake at 180-200F for about 5 hours. If it gets brown soon the temperature is too high so back off and let it bake longer. Experimentation will dial things in just fine. This results in the best tasting bread ever. Just don't eat much!!!

What foods do you enjoy that you feel deprived of? Often we can replace junk with wholesome foods, especially with some spices helping with the transition.

Do you exercise? (Walking to the kitchen is not exercise........lol.) Do you live in a cold environment? Looks like you're in Helena. Is that in Montana? Are you able to walk outside now? Walking faster and faster is a very simple yet very effective, low impact activity that is great for the joints.

How is your weight? If you're overweight focus on speed walking and aqua exercise which puts no stress on the joints. The only problem with aqua exercise is the chlorine in the air that is usually present in most pools because they don't have the chemistry quite right. Now if you were in an outdoor pool there wouldn't be a problem. If its miserable outside and you don't want to go out a treadmill is a solution. Hey many people buy them and never use them so you can usually score a marvelous deal on the used market. You can get a motorized or manual version.

Many people find cold therapy highly effective for joint issues. But keep in mind something is causing those joints to be inflamed so all the cold therapy in the world, while being quite effective, is still not addressing the cause of the problem. Which is always the food we have eaten for the last few decades. The good news is this: Almost every disease known to man is aggravated by high blood sugar so by solving this problem you will dramatically reduce your changes of getting heart disease and cancer and most every other disease.

This is what you do to add literally decades of pain free living to your lifespan. And....it doesn't cost a penny.

 

[Jamdoc]

I can see by your vocabulary that you haven't read much on the subject and are just regurgitating mainstream health advisories that work so poorly. Well? Have they worked for you? No! So why not take a different approach? One closer to the natural world.

There's nothing wrong with red meat. The problem is the steroids and growth hormones in all meats sold that are non-organic. So eliminate steroids from your food intake. Go organic.

Next is the problem of frying. So many people don't realize how bad it is because of the very high temperatures involved that dramatically change the fat making it far harder for our bodies to process. Steam or boil or, even better, eat it raw. If you eat meat or fish raw make sure its been frozen at commercial freezing temperatures for a while to get rid of any chance of parasites.

Coffee is a diuretic and will dehydrate you. It also blocks some absorption of food nutrients. Get caffeine out of your life. Its also highly addictive and makes it impossible to water fast because of the migraines most people get from caffeine withdrawal. Best way is to gradually reduce consumption and never go back to where you were. In a month it should be out of your life with a minimum of fuss. Then learn where caffeine lurks: Green tea and some other teas, some pop, many energy bars/drinks....just do consume anything packaged and you don't have to read any label. Not that any sane person would consume garbage like that..........

You can't have a gram of sugar. No honey, maple syrup, barley malt....no sweeteners. Dump them because you do NOT need them. You do have a spine. Use it. Say no. Sweeteners make us crave for more sweets. Its a downward spiral. Fruit in small quantities (avoiding citrus which can spike your blood sugar very fast) is fine. Look at the net carbs of whatever fruits you tend to consume. You may be surprised as to the huge differences in their net carb levels. Note: Net carbs is what you need to know, not just "carbs". Fiber is your friend.

There's also nothing wrong with wheat and rice. Just refined grains like WHITE bread, WHITE rice, WHITE pasta. Dump them. Think of this: Bugs don't eat refined grains. Bugs are smarter than a lot of people! They avoid them because there are no nutrients in them. Plus a refined carb spikes your blood sugar. No wonder you're suffering consuming foods like this. This is no surprise at all. Instead get wheat kernels (looks like brown rice only darker) and boil them. Best wheat ever. Or if you like bread get whole wheat flour and water and knead it and roll it into a flat bread about 1/8" thick and bake at 180-200F for about 5 hours. If it gets brown soon the temperature is too high so back off and let it bake longer. Experimentation will dial things in just fine. This results in the best tasting bread ever. Just don't eat much!!!

What foods do you enjoy that you feel deprived of? Often we can replace junk with wholesome foods, especially with some spices helping with the transition.

Do you exercise? (Walking to the kitchen is not exercise........lol.) Do you live in a cold environment? Looks like you're in Helena. Is that in Montana? Are you able to walk outside now? Walking faster and faster is a very simple yet very effective, low impact activity that is great for the joints.

How is your weight? If you're overweight focus on speed walking and aqua exercise which puts no stress on the joints. The only problem with aqua exercise is the chlorine in the air that is usually present in most pools because they don't have the chemistry quite right. Now if you were in an outdoor pool there wouldn't be a problem. If its miserable outside and you don't want to go out a treadmill is a solution. Hey many people buy them and never use them so you can usually score a marvelous deal on the used market. You can get a motorized or manual version.

Many people find cold therapy highly effective for joint issues. But keep in mind something is causing those joints to be inflamed so all the cold therapy in the world, while being quite effective, is still not addressing the cause of the problem. Which is always the food we have eaten for the last few decades. The good news is this: Almost every disease known to man is aggravated by high blood sugar so by solving this problem you will dramatically reduce your changes of getting heart disease and cancer and most every other disease.

This is what you do to add literally decades of pain free living to your lifespan. And....it doesn't cost a penny.

Nah you don't grasp it at all, the things like red meat, if I eat them more than like, once in a very rare occurrence, which is why my 1 cheat meal about once a month involves beef since that's the one I feel most deprived of.... my joints flare, I also have gout on top of the actual autoimmune disease and the medication does not reduce my uric acid enough to not have to manage with diet on top of that.
So I removed a LOT of foods from my diet because a lot of them were instant gout triggers. Red meat, alcohol, legumes (a handful of cashews will put me in a wheelchair for a week-14 days), anything with high levels of fructose including some fruits naturally, like oranges. If I drink 1 glass of orange juice a day for 4 days in a row. I will blow up, turkey.. I can't even have 1 serving of turkey, instant flare, fish, any organ meats.. only things that have been tolerable from that aspect are chicken, and pork (and of course there are Judaizers telling me I can't eat that which would leave me with chicken). Only meats I can have that don't cause me immense pain within 24 hours, outside of it takes more than 1 serving of beef within a week or so to trigger, but that 2nd serving will trigger it. Sugar substitutes like aspartame, and splenda will blow me up, certain food dyes (Lake blue #5 for instance, ANY food artificially colored blue, I will avoid because of that), MSG, and by legumes I not only mean a lot of nuts (particularly cashews), but also green beans, peas, kidney beans, black beans, all those.. I'll regret eating more than a tiny portion of in about a day.

So those foods I notice immediate responses to as part of gout.. but on top of that, I have psoriatic arthritis, which is autoimmune, even managing my diet, I get skin lesions, rashes, and joint pain flareups with no known food trigger, and those ones can last months at a time.

But after reading about the glycemic effects of foods on psoriasis, I also started avoiding starches (aside from potatoes, carrots, and corn, I manage those fine)

as to things I feel deprived of? Bread, rice, beef, turkey, oranges, grapes, heh, cashews, that's the one where like, if someone else has cashews visible I want them.. but I know how much it hurts if I have them so I cannot have a few.

But mostly what I can't tolerate to eat.. is a lot of roughage, your "good" green leafy vegetables, can't stomach the texture, and I don't do well with bitter being the primary flavor.

Every time I've tried those kinds of diets.. I end up starving myself unable to tolerate more than a few bites.. until I cannot handle it anymore and end up eating something worse like just pure junk.

But I will say, that every time I've tried just managing through diet alone? I've been bedridden with pain.

and to be fair, when I started this topic, I had not yet dropped my methotrexate, Now I've been off methotrexate for ... tomorrow it'll be 3 weeks I still haven't gotten my liver panel results back yet. and I have kept in remission .. for the most part... I had one night where it felt like I broke my foot.. but I managed to suppress it...
But the honest part of that is.. I've done so by using Marijuana every single day instead of like 3 times a week that I had been prior. The time I felt my foot flaring up, I'd skipped a day, and tried walking to a park to get out of the light pollution hoping to see an Aurora Borrealis (but it just wasn't showing up for me)... walking that far.. usually can put me in a limp.


So maybe I don't need methotrexate.. but.. the Cannabis? Seems to be the single thing that keeps it at bay most and.. that's going to be the one I have to drop for the move.

 

[Jamdoc]

So.. the update.
I'm out of remission
full blown disease and flareups.
my rheumatology appointment had to be rescheduled because I just happened to get Covid the week before I was gonna go into my appointment and so I was in the quarantine period (which is quite a "coincidence"), and I'm going to lose a toe, as the furthest joint in it is fused in such a way that I can no longer wear shoes.

It just feels like every time God moves His hand in my life
it's to ball up His fist and punch me in the mouth.

 

[trophy33]

So.. the update.
I'm out of remission
full blown disease and flareups.
my rheumatology appointment had to be rescheduled because I just happened to get Covid the week before I was gonna go into my appointment and so I was in the quarantine period (which is quite a "coincidence"), and I'm going to lose a toe, as the furthest joint in it is fused in such a way that I can no longer wear shoes.

It just feels like every time God moves His hand in my life
it's to ball up His fist and punch me in the mouth.

Try to eat only organic fatty red meat (beef), just boiled in salted water. Nothing else and drink only water. If you cannot find fatty beef, add ghee or butter to it. It takes several weeks for your body to slowly heal, sometimes months, so its not a diet for just few days, its a long term diet.

It helps many people. In addition, you can also try some fasting for a day or two, once a month.

 

[Jamdoc]

Try to eat only organic fatty red meat (beef), just boiled in salted water. Nothing else and drink only water. If you cannot find fatty beef, add ghee or butter to it. It takes several weeks for your body to slowly heal, sometimes months, so its not a diet for just few days, its a long term diet.

It helps many people. In addition, you can also try some fasting for a day or two, once a month.

No I also have gout, that'd make things worse
and last time I tried fasting, it caused a flareup.

Diet I don't think is going to help me here much, I already adhere to a low purine diet, and avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners, just avoiding things I know will start a gout flareup, but the psoriasis, that's its own beast where my own body hates itself. I think this most recent flareup may have been triggered by covid.

But this is just a lot of "coincidence" of losing medications that I used to control it, and delaying any medical intervention so I just have to suffer the disease. I don't know what God is doing but it's making me more bitter. Chronic pain doesn't build up it tears down.