ball of nerves

Pain level: 5
Dislocations so far today: none (yay!)
Subluxations so far today: right shoulder a few times, right and left elbow,  right index finger.
Meds: naproxen, hardcore dose.  Going to try Amitriptyline, my sleeping meds, tonight--1/2-1 tablet.
Major complaint: stiffness and throbbing of hands in the morning, worrying too much

Pain in my hands woke me up in the middle of the night.  What fun.  Slept like hell.  I plan on seeing how I react to the Amitriptyline and hope that it knocks me out for a good night's sleep.  Hands were better today than yesterday.  I think taking a hot shower as soon as I got out of bed helped.  I could make a fist by 10:30 with both hands.  That's pretty good.  And the sharp pain when pressing down on my joints is much less.  But mobility is less than yesterday.  Weird.

Raynaud's is going crazy today. Well, really it's only been one attack, but it was a big one.   Had to take the dog out and she can't be trusted recently to go in her yard and do her business, so I went out with her to coax her in the right area.  May have been outside for about 1 minute tops.  It was snowing and around 25ºF.  As soon as I got inside my hands started to feel off.  They weren't numb yet but much lighter than my skintone.  In 5-10 minutes every finger and both thumbs were as white as a sheet of paper.  I ran them under warm water and tried biting on them but nothing happened.  Tried to ignore it and eat my dinner but when I couldn't hold my fork I tried more.  They started turning blue, but then the feeling started coming back.  They turned bright effing red with a little purple in a few fingers and burned like mad.  Overall, they were probably gone for about 20 minutes.  It sucked. 

I saw the dentist today and things went better than expected.  I bled a ton less and she said my gums were looking much better than before and to keep up whatever I was doing differently.  I haven't done anything differently.  She just didn't stab me in the gums so much this time.  But I just said "Oh good!" and "I'll do that."

I need to learn to calm myself the hell down.  Sure, the ANA test results have me freaked, but researching every autoimmune disorder isn't going to help anything so cut it the hell out, you shmuck.  Also, no matter how much I hate Lowell, that's where all my doctors are so I need to just man up and stop having random panic attacks about the fact that I'll have to have M drive me into Lowell in 3 weeks.  It's in 3 weeks, dude.  Sure you'd rather it were here tomorrow so it can be over with, but it's not so just stop worrying until it's here.  Seriously.  Calm the hell down.  Chill.  But not too much, or else your hands might turn all white and funky.   

Hand stiffness using middle finger as a measure.
Time: 9:08 PM
L
Can touch forearm? Yes, but only just barely and with discomfort.
Angle of extension of center joint of finger: 85º
Angle of extension of last joint of finger: 120º
R
Can touch forearm? No. about an inch off
Angle of extension of center joint of finger: 80º
Angle of extension of last joint of finger: 115º