Intravenous Immunoglobulins (IVIG)

I was hopeful when I started IVIG in the fall of 2024, probably too hopeful. I am just like everyone else. I want to live recklessly, abusing my body, and ask modern medicine to fix things for me. We had a nice trip over the holidays to Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico. But on the long car drive home, our son got sicker and sicker. The next morning he went to the doctor and was told he had the flu. I was fortunate to get a prophylactic prescription for Tamiflu. I truly think it saved us because I was fighting something for about 2 to 3 days in mid-January. I’ll continue the story in the appropriate month below.

January 2025-Flu exposure

In retrospect, I spent January fighting viruses this month and trying to understand the extreme pain in my feet. My left foot was really painful, but I didn’t know if it was because of my PsA, injury or scar tissue reactions.

I wore a pair of shoes that were too tight in November 2024, and I have had constant foot pain since then. First in the left foot, where I still have hardware and then in both feet. I got X-rays of the left foot to make sure the hardware wasn’t moving around in my foot, and it is mostly intact except for the “wire” that is supposed to be keeping my first metatarsal close to my 2nd metatarsal. That joint has spread back out to it’s original angle of about 17 degrees and the “washer” that was against the outside of my 1st metatarsal is now buried inside my bone. I will need to have surgery to try to fix that situation but it may not work.

I was also experimenting with using LED Infrared boots. I tried them for the month of January for 20-40 minutes every night. I considered that the infrared was stimulating the surgery sites and causing bone remodeling or some other reaction. I kept doing the LED because I assumed that if it was the cause, then the pain would stop when I stopped the LED.

ADDED: Hair Growth by Nature’s Bounty. Unfortunately, I don’t think this is the same as the Hair Skin & Nails I took. This one is 10,000 mcg Biotin & 160mg of a proprietary Advanced Hair Complex, which is Arginine Silicate Inositol & Mg Biotinate. Aaargh. I was fooled by the pink bottle! It looks like Hair, Skin & Nails!

Mostly dry January after our trip, starting January 5th.

February-March 2025-Cimzia doses

To try to tamp down the inflammation and eliminate the possibility that my foot pain was because of a PsA flare, I increased my Cimzia dose. Rather than taking 2 syringes at the same time, which I had already established was too much for me, I experimented with taking the normal dose, 2 syringes, close together in between my IVIG infusions. So I took one syringe on Jan 29, Feb 2 and then again Feb 20 & Feb 27 & will take 2 doses in March 24ish & about 5 days later.

ADDED: 50 mg Zinc gluconate by Nature’s Bounty. took for a few days after Botox because the technician says research shows taking zinc a few days before & after botox helps it to last longer….hmmm

Mostly dry February except for 2 weekends.

Night supplements:

• L-Citrulline, 1500 mg by Nutricost–some have had success with it helping their PsA. Taking at night. will run out in March 2025
• Progesterone, 200 mg
• Iron, 15 mg iron glycinate & 50% as iron aspartate, 175 mg Vitamin C
• ADDED: Sleep3 by Nature’s Bounty, 200 mg L-Theanine, 50mg of a nighttime blend of chamomile, lavender, lemon balm, valerian root, 10 mg melatonin
• trying CBD from Gruene Botanicals when I can’t sleep. 1 dropper is ~60 mg
• I am going to work on my sleep hygiene this month. No screen time 1 hr before bed & spending 9 hours in bed!

April 2025-EBV and Hep B

My fatigue became unbearable sometime in March & I started complaining to my functional medicine doctor. I would never make progress on my health without him. He is my sounding board and willing to explore the things I don’t think about. I tested positive for Epstein Barr Virus April 1, 2025. Started Valcyclovir again. 250mg 2x/day. I suspect I had EBV since sometime in mid March. I blame the Cimzia for suppressing my immune system so much that it allowed the virus to reactivate in my system.

I did not realize what was going on at the time, but my March Hepatitis B blood work came back abnormal. My rheumatologist referred me to a liver specialist. Somehow, I thought the 2nd blood work cleared any concerns and forgot about it. So I didn’t see a liver specialist until July. The liver doctor got my attention when they told me I showed evidence of ACTIVE Hepatitis B infection (not just from the vaccine). When I looked back at my symptom notes. I had noted my feet were yellow for several months this spring. So I probably ALSO got Hepatitis B somehow. The other possibility is that I got the antigen in my blood because of the immunoglobulins. But the yellow feet symptom makes me think I really had the Hepatitis B virus flaring in my system!

Sometime in April, I decided to try a new app called Cronometer to log my food. Previously, I kept a google document that listed my food intake, but it told me nothing about my nutrition. I thought I ate fairly well. But using that app made me realize how utterly deficient I was in protein. So, I started experimenting with adding protein powder to my diet.

Night Supplements:

• STOPPED L-Citruline
• ADDED: Magnesium Malate powder 2.5 gram (1 tsp). Tastes awful but trying for muscle cramps
• ADDED: L-Lysine powder, 1 gram (1/2 tsp). Not great taste but felt much better after taking this in 2021. Not sure what made me better back then. Trying this powder form since it is supposedly absorbed more easily than pills.
• ADDED: Sun Warrior Protein Powder, no sweetener, no flavorings

May 2025-Protein Powders and Detox

I had no idea how impactful it would be to add protein powder to my diet. I immediately noticed a difference in my leg muscles. I started wearing weights when I did my morning walk. First on my ankles, then on both my arms and my ankles. I started with my 1 pound weights but then I bought some 2.5 pound bands. My left foot pain was mostly gone by May. The remaining pain was mostly isolated to the surgery joint. It was VERY tender to the touch.

My functional medicine doctor encouraged me to do another detox protocol to break the EBV virus. My journey began when I did a 5-day fast and elimination diet to break a disseminated zoster virus flare. For me, these detox diets work. I was still fighting fatigue and complaining about muscle cramping in my feet and up my calves. So May 17th I cut out alcohol, almost all sugar, and starting taking the following detox supplements.

It came as a kit called Detox Support Packet by Designsforhealth.com. Each packet includes:

• 1 Detox Antiox
• 1 LV-GB Complex
• 3 Amino-D-Tox

June-July 2025 Detox and Travel

I continued the detox protocol until we left for France on June 25th. I had previously run out of my probiotic and I’ve been reading more that we shouldn’t take probiotics everyday. And the probiotic I was taking, Saccharomyces Boulardii was fairly narrow spectrum. So I bought Florastor to take on my trip & just took those every other day or so.

After our travel I decided to experiment with other supplements to see how I respond rather than jumping back into the supplements I was taking before. Adding the protein powders to my diet have improved my overall energy level. But this often happens over the summer when I get lots of sunshine and outdoor activity.

• ADDED: Women’s Once Daily Probiotics by Ancient Nutrition. Only 30 of this so mid-July to mid-August.
• REDUCED: Life Extension Mix Capsules. But instead of the 12 (which is the recommended dose), I only take 6 a day. I find I feel a little better not taking so many.
• ADDED: Zinc, 50 mg caplets by Nature’s Bounty. Since I struggle with viruses, I decided to take this every day for a while. I previously took Zinc L-Carnosine when working on my gut health but now I’m focused more on viruses and respiratory health.
• ADDED: Inflammatone by Designs for Health. My functional medicine suggested I take this after the detox to support me while traveling. 60 capsules so I will take it until I run out.
• CHANGED: Hormones (see below). I was getting pellets every 3-4 months since January 2024 but have decided to go try the sublingual tablet. I’m wondering if the sudden rise of hormones could be triggering an immune response since my PsA was originally triggered by the sudden drop in hormones at menopause.

August 2025

Alcohol complicated my life in August. I had several instances were I drank too much and the consequences to my body take days to undo.

Protein Powders and my notes about each:

• Sun Warrior Protein Powder Warrior Blend, unflavored, no sweetener. I was able to drink this one in water. ~$32/30 servings, 19g/serving
• Garden of Life Raw Organic Protein, plant-based, unflavored. ~$30/20 servings, 22g/serving (1 scoop). Very thick. Can only eat this one with something like steel cut oats.
• NOW Sports Organic Pea Protein Powder, unflavored. Easy to add to stew, oats, breads without it adding any flavor! ~$19/34 servings (2 scoops), 15g/serving. I usually only add 1 scoop to oats so only adding 8-9g at a time.
• Om Master Blend Mushrooms & Adaptogens Plant Protein, unflavored. Easy to drink 1 scoop in water. It kind of makes my heart race right after I drink it, so I’m assuming that is the adaptogens. ~$30/16 servings (2 scoops), 21g/serving. I generally only take 1 scoop though.
• PlantFusion Organic Mushrooms+Protein, chocolate flavored. ~$30/14 servings (2 scoops). 18g protein. I usually take 1 scoop in water when I need protein but can’t motivate myself to drink the unflavored stuff. Haven’t focused on whether I think this particular product is great.
• Plant Fusion Organic Plant Protein Fermented Whole Food Nutrition. 12 servings, 18g/scoop! I usually take 1 scoop in water when I need protein but can’t motivate myself to drink the unflavored stuff. Haven’t focused on whether I think this particular product is great.

August 15-19 Digestive Detox Packets

September 2025

• ADD: Boswellia by Pure Encapsulations, Indian Frankincense, 400mng Boswellia serrata extract, 60% boswellic acids
• ADD: Otezla. Have a sample pack and did the loading doses but when I got to 30 mg, I was already feeling better, so I decided to cap my dose at 30mg rather than the recommended dose of 60 mg. We’ll see how I do.
• RESTART: Once-Daily Health Booster by Life Extension. Vit E, K, & MacuGuard.
• CHANGED: Ran out of the Life Extension Mix Capsules (12/day) but have 2 bottles of the Life Extension One-Per-Day Multivitamin so switching to that. It is too much for me though because my pee turns yellow after I take it!
• PAUSE: Inflammatone by Designs for Health. My functional medicine suggested I take this after the detox to support me while traveling. Pause while starting Otezla
• CHANGED: Hormones (see below). Asked to switch to a 1/day sublingual. I hope I don’t miss as many doses.

Hormones 2016 to 2025

I will move this to a separate post with more of a narrative about my reasons for restarting hormone supplements.

• 2025 September 13 Sublingual 1x/day. 0.75mg estradiol, .75mg estriol, 200mg Progesterone & 3 mg Testosterone
• 2025 June 25: started oral sublingual 2xday, before I think I only was taking them 1/day: 0.375mg estradiol, .375mg estriol, 100mg Progesterone & 2 mg Testosterone. Nipples got sore by mid-July & was running out so spread out dosage
• March Pellets: 87.5 mg testosterone, 6 mg estradiol, continuing 200 mg progesterone at night
• 2024 November Pellets: 75 mg testosterone, 6 mg estradiol
• 2024 September Supplemented with rapid dissolve tablet with progesterone, testosterone & estrogen. B/P/T .75 (50:50) 100/2MG RDT-TP
• 2024 July REDUCED: Progesterone 200 mg at night
• 2024 June Pellets: REDUCED: 10mg Estradiol, 100 mg Testosterone pellets June 12, by Farmakeio, INCREASED: Progesterone 400 mg at night
• 2024 March Pellets: 12.5 mg Estradiol, 125 mg Testosterone pellets on March 19, by Farmakeio. Progesterone 200 mg at night, but INCREASED to 600 mg to stop the bleeding
• 2024 January: Rapid dissolve tablet, progesterone, testosterone & estrogen. B/P/T .75 (50:50) 100/2MG RDT-TP.
• 2022-23-tried natural supplements
• 2019-2021 No hormones
• 2016-2018 Cream hormones