You are all right!

Hi friends,

You guys are all correct!!! My doctor laughed at the idea of me coming off prednisone for the biopsy. She said, "there's no way that will ever happen." She's calling the general surgeon's office to advise. She's also calling to consult with the Rheumatologist and to get me into the Rheumatologist's office sooner than Nov. 23 (Yep, it takes 4-5 months to get into a (good) Rheumatologist's office in our community). I'd say we have a shortage of this specialty 😷.

After a month on 15 mg Prednisone, my ESR, CRP and WBCs are still high. She's increased the prednisone to 20 mg and is running further blood work.

This is complex stuff!!! But at least all the doctor appointments get me up and moving.

Thanks again for your continued support! Kitty in Gig Harbor, WA.

[Celtic PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Kitty, good to hear that at least your doctor knows his stuff with regard to not suddenly stopping the Pred for biopsy!

Some patients do need a slightly higher starting dose than 15mgs to get the inflammation of PMR under control, so with any luck your next blood tests after a few weeks on 20mgs will show an improvement.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Hope that nurse is getting some further education! As my husband said - you have to be off anticoagulants for a week pre-surgery, pred isn't an anticoagulant.

It is concerning though that a nurse working in a specialised field doesn't know something like that. Patients we know have had hip replacement surgery while still on 10mg - although their GP tried to tell them it wouldn't happen until they were off pred and some surgeons won't do it - others only require you to be stable on your current dose so you need to look round in cases like that.

[Joyful13]

KittG:

I am so glad to hear that all is well for you to have the biopsy. I had a bilateral temporal biopsy about 15 years ago and was on Prednisone 60mg at the time. There were no complications because of the biopsy.

The biopsies were negative at that time, so the rheumatologist said I did not have GCA. He took me off the Prednisone gradually after the biopsies. Unfortunately, I think I did have GCA. My GP always believed that to be the case.

We know so much more about GCA now, especially the symptoms, lab work, and what to really look for in the patient.

I wish you the best, Kitty. You are going down the right road, my friend.

Have a relaxing weekend as much as possible.

[PamelAnneCT]

We have the same 'shortage' of rheums on the east coast! I sent my records to the office 7\1 and was told end of October. On 7/3 I got a call saying the dr had reviewed my record and wanted to see me 7\28! Hmmmm, maybe this is actually serious?! Sheesh.

Good luck with your biopsy! I was still hospitalized when I had mine and was on steroid infusions at a high dose. I'm surprised your surgeon's staff didn't know better.