catherine w
Posted , 5 users are following.
I am a 67 year old woman, I had been taking Naproxen for 7 months when I developed the symptoms of TA, I was put on prednisolone 40mg per day which worked wonders.My vision problems improved overnight, and the swollen arteries were gone within days, however after tapering the steroids slowly, in March 2016, I got a chest infection and my bloods which were falling nicely, went back up and havent gone down much since. I am now taking 20 mg of prednisolone daily from 15mg, the symptoms of TA have not come back, but now my Rheumatologist wants me to have a PET scan, I walk daily, keep active and luckily have not put weight on with the steroids, I have lost 8lbs in 13 months with the disease. I wondered if anyone else has experience of a PET scan, as all you hear about it is in connection with cancer?
0 likes, 9 replies
tina-uk_cwall catherine34621
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you are suffering from TA and your original starting dose was 40mgs daily and if I am correct you have had diagnosed TA for just over a year so I think you did well to get down to 15mgs within that period. You are only on 20mgs because your bloods are indicating there is some sort of lingering inflamation. That could be simply because your chest infection has not cleared completely up. I know you are anxious but I think you have a dr who is making sure they have all bases covered. If it is established that you only have TA, and that is well under control, but you still have a lingering chest infection, you could be offered antibiotics and then be back to reducing your preds, slowly I hope, very soon. I had a PET scan last year when I had pulmonary embolisms, so as much as it's hard not to think of the worse, please understand that they are used to establish all sorts! Regards, tina
catherine34621
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tina-uk_cwall catherine34621
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EileenH catherine34621
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Tina has said most of the rest.
catherine34621
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EileenH catherine34621
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I don't think either of us thought you were complaining about your doctors.
catherine34621
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EileenH catherine34621
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The fatigue is something different - it is probably due to the autoimmune disease that is the cause of the PMR or GCA symptoms. The pred doesn't usually change it - except for the pred high that some patients experience where they have loads of extra energy. That doesn't stop them experiencing the fatigue when they have really overdone it though! And pred itself can cause fatigue.
If you haven't already seen this there is a lot of reading material in the links:
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pmr-gca-website-addresses-and-resources-35316
catherine34621
Posted