Vectra DA, it's NOT just a number...

After I was diagnosed with RA, my Rheumatologist said he wanted to do a blood test called Vectra DA. He gave me a pamphlet and told me to go check out the website. He assured me that it was a good resource and information on RA. If any of you have ever been diagnosed with something, the first thing you do is.... GOOGLE IT! I had done my share of Googling already after my sister was diagnosed and already knew all the doom and gloom. I pulled out my pamphlet and looked on the Vectra DA website as soon as I got home. It was excellent. It explained all of the information I had already read on RA, but it had something else. It had an explanation of what the Vectra DA test was and why it was important. Out of all the blood work I had had done in the past, I never had had an explanation of what it all meant. This was the first time I actually understood what the blood work would tell my doctor about my disease. Awesome...

Now comes the important part. My Vectra DA score. Vectra DA is based on 12 biomarkers in your blood. These results provide you with a number that tells you and your doctor the level of disease activity of your RA. It’s a scale of 1-100, which gives you a level of low, moderate, and high disease activity. My number is currently 49, this is in the high disease activity range. This was more than just a number for me, it gave me comfort in so many ways. Some of you may wonder how a high number could give someone comfort. My grandmother always taught me to find the good in every situation. So, it just comes naturally to me to automatically find a positive in everything in my life. This score gave me a reason for all those nights I had to go to bed at 8pm, immediately after I put my kids down. It explained why I was so tired all the time, but could never sleep. I am a control freak, so it made okay that I can't keep up with the laundry, the dishes, or exercise every day. It gave me the reassurance that I needed to continue taking the loads of medication and pain killers that my doctor prescribed me. It also gave me a goal, a goal to lower my number! I needed that number for so many reasons, but mostly my sanity. Sanity is important don't ya think? There is not much left after taking care of three small children every day. :) My illness was real. Not just in my head.

Please share this post and get the word out about Vectra DA. Give someone the gift of sanity. Give someone a goal.

Here is the link to Vectra DA... Speak up and ask your doctor about getting it ordered for you.
www.vectrada.com

Comments

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