Rheumatoid Arthritis

Our Petition to WhiteHouse.gov & why you should sign it

Adult Biotinidase Deficiency, Biotinidase Deficiency, End Deficiencies, petition, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease, TanyaMartin.com, WhiteHouse.gov / 5 minutes of reading / July 25, 2014

Long time readers are familiar with the saga of my fiancee Tanya and her life being diagnosed with Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease, aka Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), which turned out to not be RA but rather a Biotinidase Deficiency. Since my server stats indicate that I have a lot of new readers I will summarize the ordeal for you. In December of 2003 Tanya was diagnosed as having Rheumatoid Arthritis due to her joint pain and fatigue. As the years went by her symptoms got worse and she spent close to $500,000 in treatments that included low dose chemo. In 2013 one …

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Adult Biotinidase Deficiency and you

B7 deficiency, Biotinidase Deficiency, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease, Rheumatoid Patient Foundation, Tanya / 4 minutes of reading / July 27, 2013

To say that this has been an amazing week would be an understatement; I would go so far as to suggest that it has been a miraculous week. I would like you to take a look at the photo of Tanya, to the left. I took that photo this afternoon (Saturday, July 27); there is no way Tanya would have even attempted jumping up like that a week ago. The fact of the matter is that in recent weeks, Tanya has been extremely clumsy; tripping over her own feet and walking into walls became pretty standard occurrences. She had numbness …

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Practicing medicine

Cedars-Sinai, Providence Little Company of Mary, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease, Rheumatoid Patient Foundation, Southern California, Tanya, Torrance / 7 minutes of reading / July 22, 2013

Sometimes clichés are just a little too accurate; for example, to say doctors are just practicing medicine is sad but true and that is what brought about my writing of this particular article. Since I expect that there are new readers here that do not know the back story to my adventure in medicine, I will give a quick review. If you would like more details, you can click the link to the RAD Caregiver category. In a nutshell; my girlfriend Tanya was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) in 2004. In October of 2011 Tanya moved from Indiana to California …

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Living with RA: One year later

RA, RAD, RAD Caregiver, RAD Lovegiver, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease, Rheumatoid Patient Foundation, Tanya / 9 minutes of reading / December 17, 2012

A few weeks ago several of my siblings came into town to attend a function that was honoring my dad and a few others that attend his church. One of my brothers asked me if I was going to continue writing about life with Rheumatoid Arthritis or not. Apparently he had enjoyed reading my perspective. I explained to him that while I was continuing to do as I had promised as far as bringing awareness of RA and of the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation, I was doing it primarily by donating watermarks on some of my photos to the Rheumatoid Patient …

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A visit to Dr. Mariko Ishimori

Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Mariko Ishimori, Photos, pictures, RAD, RAD Lovegiver, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease, Rheumatoid Patient Foundation, Tanya / 2 minutes of reading / July 14, 2012

Thursday morning, Tanya and I headed out to Beverly Hills and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to visit a new rheumatologist, Dr. Mariko Ishimori, MD. After Tanya’s last experience with Dr. Forouzesh she decided that she could not handle the stress of having a doctor that changed attitudes and commentary with each visit. The fact that he had been giving her Cimzia as samples that were already allocated to other patients was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I was not really sure what to expect as we entered the Steven Spielberg Building and our introduction to Dr. Ishimori. As it …

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Why isn’t your rheumatologist suggesting stem cells?

Dr Solomon Forouzesh, RA, RAD, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease, Rheumatoid Patient Foundation, Stem Cell Research, Tanya / 6 minutes of reading / May 14, 2012

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Tanya’s rheumatologist, Dr. Forouzesh, had told me about an upcoming Frontiers of Rheumatology symposium that was coming up [at the end of April] in Marina del Rey at the Marriott Hotel. I decided that I would attempt to get a media pass so I could learn a little more about what is being talked about in the profession with regards to Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease. I will admit, it took a little doing; and while Dr. Furst, one of the co-chairs of the event, gave the okay to my attendance, if I had not …

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