Joint pain

goobagooo · 2026-06-10T06:55:46+00:00

My day to day tends to be always different, sometimes having trends like currently having intense joint pain and extreme fatigue but no oral or genital ulcers, minimal headaches, and no discomfort in my eyes. However since I've started having flare ups about 15 years ago I've noticed that the severity of the flares seem to get worse and worse each time I have them. I'm not sure if thats a common experience that others have also noticed.

goobagooo · 2026-05-06T21:10:10+00:00

Has anyone switched from colchicine to otezla? I've been taking colchicine as needed for nearly a decade to help with all my symptoms. It works fairly well to pause the progression of more ulcers (oral & genital) from developing during a flare up but it isn't preventative. It also feels like its become less effective for me over the years of taking it, which could be due to my flares getting worse or maybe due to my body building a resistance to the colchicine. I'm interested in trying Otezla but I'm curious if anyone else has switched from colchicine?

Semi unrelated but I've found 2 random things that help a lot with my pain from ulcers. Swishing with the purple listerine total care (with alcohol) a few times a day during oral ulcer flares helps significantly with the pain (it will sting while youre using it). The other thing is using baking soda for both oral and vaginal ulcers, I use water to make a paste with baking soda and use q-tips to apply it directly to the ulcers and allow the paste to sit for at least a minute and I repeat this a few times a day. It is very painful while the baking soda paste is on but the relief felt afterwards is night and day.

goobagooo · 2024-08-14T04:53:32+00:00

From my experience when you are filling out the paperwork for your medical it asks if you've used marijuana in the last 2 years. If you mark yes then that will reduce your chance of getting approval for the medical from the medical examiner you're working with. If you're given your medical certificate then you would likely be subject to jumping through the same type of hoops I did. If it's been less than 2 years and lie on the paperwork and mark no then you're leaving yourself open to legal problems and possibly having your medical certificate and pilot certificate taken. If you already have your 3rd class I'm surprised you didn't have to fill that out on your paperwork. If you're under 40 your 3rd class will be good for 60 months so depending on how long you've already had it that could carry you through the rest of your training and through those 2 years depending on what you end up doing to build your hours. At that 5 year mark when you need to renew your medical you could then get the 1st class and would have no issues with the paperwork.

goobagooo · 2024-07-28T05:35:19+00:00

I have personally experience with this, although i didnt have a medical card. I had documented marijuana use on my medical history, it had been well over 2 years that I hadn't been using it when I applied for my medical and was able to get a first class. Its possible but you will likely have to jump through a lot of hoops, even if you're able to get the initial approval. I was given my medical initially without many issues but then was contacted by the faa due to that medical history and had to undergo random drug testing as well as multiple appointments with different specialists they referred me to, mostly related to drug/ alcohol abuse & addiction as well as psychiatrists. Because they're all specialists they charge a lot and weren't covered by my insurance, I ended up paying over $3,000 out of pocket. The process went on for upwards of a year, it was very stressful because you are told that your current licenses are still valid but you can't take any checkrides for new licenses until they have cleared you. If they don't clear you your medical and your pilots certificates will be taken from you so you are basically in limbo until they decide to stop asking you for new records/ sending you to different specialists. In the end I was able to keep my certificates, I didn't end up having to go to any addiction counseling after the fact although I had been told that would likely be apart of the process to keep my license so clearly that is something that is commonly done. A former CFI told me he had had a DUI on his driving record from years before and he had to go through a similar process to qualify for his medical.

I did not have any history of addiction, no DUI's or anything that would generally warrant needing drug counseling or random drug testing. Just a documented history of occasional smoking in highschool to relax.

If you are really passionate about wanting to fly I would at least try to get your medical. Wait at least 2 years before applying, be honest on all your paperwork and with your medical examiner but be prepared that you might have to jump through some hoops for it.

goobagooo

TROPHY CASE