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  3. Polymyalgia Rheumatica and GCA

Eureka?

Posted , 7 users are following.

catherine34621
catherine34621

After waiting 2yrs for a diagnosis, it looks as if I have one, I was told six weeks ago that it looked likely, I went to see the Prof. who is temporarily treating me today and she is confident it is GCA. I am now waiting to start Leflunomide. Pred. has never reduced my inflammation enough, so she is trying something else. I should have been on it already, but a urine infection put paid to that, I told her that I had suddenly started feeling better about five weeks ago. I had to reduce the Pred. to have a PET/CT scan, and felt terrible, after the scan, I increased it to what it had been, and felt the fatigue lessening. She said the next blood tests I had, the level on one marker, had dropped from 72 to 20, but of course it could be a number of reasons. I still can't believe that the tiredness is so much decreased, I'm just so grateful. Here's hoping it carries on.

1 like, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • EileenH
    EileenH catherine34621

    Posted

    Sounds like the ESR - and the most likely reason for your levels not having fallen before was you weren't on enough pred to clear out all the existing inflammation to give you a clear baseline.

    Do hope you get on well with the leflunomide.

    • catherine34621
      catherine34621 EileenH

      Posted

      This is the mystery Eileen, Iwas on 20mgs. for a long time, I cut down to 15mgs. for a month, then 12.5mgs. for the scan, then went back up to 15mgs. which I am on now, it all changed then, still, I'll take any improvement, thank you!

       

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