Phil Mickelson and his meds

If you ever watch golf, you've probably seen the commercial. Phil says one minute he's on top of the world and the next, he has this thing called psoriatic arthritis. Evidently, that disease involves inflammation of the joints and can be quite painful.

Phil recommends consulting your rheumatologist about taking a drug called Enbrel. It worked for him.

Time out. I didn't know there even WAS such a thing as a rheumatologist. While Phil has the means to go see such specialists, most of us can't afford a simple office call to our local "take 2 aspirins, drink 8 glasses of water, and get lots of sleep" doctor. There's no more of that "call me in the morning" stuff either. They're probably on the golf course. Maybe with Phil.

Anymore, if you don't have health insurance, you're lucky to get treated for a broken bone. What do you think would happen if you walked into an emergency room and told them your joints ached? Chances are you'd starve to death before your name was called to see a doctor.

But good for Phil. I hope he keeps pounding the golf ball, racking up the millions, and taking his designer meds.

In the meantime, some of us common folks have joints that ache occasionally too. What kind of remedies are available to us?

Think Granny Clampett and her rheumatiz medicine. Yep, that's the ticket. It might not cure it -- but you won't care -- at least for a little while. You see, there's this guy that goes down to West By Gawd Virginny every so often, and he comes back with -- no -- maybe I shouldn't go there.

Either that, or if you're clever enough to find the Peavulture I mentioned in an earlier post -- she'lll fix you up.