Little Prayer Requests

Today finds me somewhat discouraged. On a couple of counts. First, my friend (and former roommate), Julie, is visiting and she has pretty much been sick for four out of the five days she has been here. :( Which does make me wonder how she feels about being here? I mean, first it was food poisoning (not from me, from L.A.), then migraines. I think she was just sick at the thought of coming here. :P She's only here for two more days, so I would definitely appreciate prayers that she'll feel good for the remainder of her vacation time. :)
For myself, well, apparently having Julie here makes me sick too. Well, not so much sick really as pained. Specifically in my hands and feet. And shoulder. And head. And jaw. But I think that is pretty much it. I think though that the head, jaw and shoulder are at least in part because of the hands and feet. I've thought about cutting them off (because they offend me), but it is difficult to get both hands off. Granted, I do feel that I am at least partly to blame for the pain, but not fully. I seem to be having an arthritis flare up in my hands and feet (oh, and my hips too, forgot about them earlier). I know that I am allergic to coffee (brewed only, the instant stuff--which I prefer--is fine) and artificial sweeteners and have been avoiding those like the plague, but it seems that there are many more triggers for the arthritis, which seems to be some sort of a systemic allergic reaction. My fault at this point is that I took the week off from life (ok, pretended too as much as I could at least, which mostly meant not watching my diet as closely) while Julie was here. Now I seem to be suffering the consequences of that in my hands and feet. I am feeling very discouraged at the moment. My doctor (who is the best I've ever had) isn't holding out a lot of hope at this point either. He keeps trying to find solutions and sources, but basically he has said that some people are built to last a lifetime and other people are made with less high quality products. I belong in the latter camp it seems.
So, I would definitely appreciate your prayers for relief from pain, healing and most of all, strength and grace to be glorifying to God and a witness to Him through these things that He allows. I don't understand, but He knows what is going on, and I do trust Him.
And don't forget to praise that I have such a great doctor--even if he doesn't have all the answers!