Thank to everyone for commenting on my post regarding living with rheumatoid arthritis in Thailand.
For the past several years I've been taking the biologic drug Humira. It's works great! However, this drug is not available in Thailand, and even if it were, it would be too expensive for me to purchase. This drug costs over $6,000 USD in the states. If it were not for health insurance, I would not have had the pleasure of injecting myself every 2 weeks to control my RA.
I'm planning on moving full time to Thailand in 17 months so I must find a way to stop the pain and destruction to my body without the use of expensive biologics. 4 months ago, I stopped taking all my RA medications. It looks like things were going to be ok, but as the drugs slowly left my body, all my joint pain and disabilities slowly returned. I'm talking about finger, hand, shoulder, hips, knees, foot, and toes all in chronic or acute pain. It's a terrible place to be.
I've been trying to fight this disease by following a low carb diet and exercise. My diet is that of keto. I'm practically a ketovore now, as I've been attempting to eliminate anything that can cause inflammation and painful flareups. I was hopeful that diet could solve the problem, but I'm starting to lose faith that diet alone can manage the pain and damage to my body. I've watched a lot of YouTube videos of people reducing RA by following a carnivore diet. Everybody is different though and what works for one person may not work for another.
I've started to take a DMARD drug called Leflunomide. It's relatively cheap, about $150 USD. Form what I've read, it's available in Thailand. At this time, I actually don't know if it will work. It'll take a few months to find out.
I can't take methotrexate as it makes me nauseous. Even worse for me is Hydroxychloroquine. That drug makes me so ill that I can't get out of bed. Methotrexate and Hydroxychloroquine work well for many people with RA, but not for me as I can't deal with the nauseous side effects.
My goal is to take a cheap DMARD drug in the US, that's also available in Thailand so when I move there permanently, I can continue with the same drug and not be miserable in my new home country while I experiment with new medications. Some of these medications can take months to take effect. For instance, it took me 4 months on methotrexate for the drug to take effect and my join pain to subside.
Thank you for the rheumatologist recommendations. I'll get in touch with at least one of them on my next trip so I can discuss my situation and available medications in Thailand.
If anyone can share the costs to see a rheumatologist, the cost of lab test, and the cost of their medications, I would be grateful.
In the meantime, I'll keep the carbs down as low as possible, consume zero sugar, take my vitamins, especially vitamin D, eat high quality fats and proteins, and exercise daily. I know this definitely helps.
If Leflunomide works for me, I'll be satisfied with the quality of my health. I'll experiment in a few of years to see if I can live without it and protect my liver from the damage caused by DMARD's.
Once again, thank you for all your responses.