Suspected Temporal Arteritis

[blackstone1]

After a very long weekend saw eye specialist today for suspected temporal arteritis aa I was complaining of blurred vision, low grade headache and CPR of 18.5. He was fairly confident that the visual disturbance is caused by rapidly developing cataracts and the rest down to my PMR.

He has asked me to stay on the 25mg pred for the next week and then take further bloods.

My GP put up the dose from 7mg to 25 over the weekend as a precation so all going well I will have been on this dose for 10-11 days. Any suggestions as to how I might go about reducing safely given the comparatively short time I would have been on 25mg?

I feel somewhat reassured and certainly less alarmed. I have also been referred to what sounds like a good Rhuemi,. Anybody from the South of Ireland attend a Dr. McCarthy in Cork?

25mg of pred is the highest tiI have been on , my 3rd day and I am not feeling so bad

Great to be able to run this past knowledgeable people and great to go into the consultation today as well informed as I was through this forum. Thank you

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hi blackstone1,

Think might be wise to stay at 25mg until you get results of your next blood tests, just to make sure.

Provided everything is okay, then you should be able to get back down to at least 10mg fairly quickly. If you were having PMR symptoms at 7mg then maybe you are just at the edge of your optimum level, so maybe you need a little more anyway.

But as I said I would be inclined to wait until you get your results before you attempt anything.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

You should be able to drop quickly even after 10 days. Certainly down to 10mg in maybe 2 steps shouldn't pose much of a problem. Might be a bit uncomfortable for a day or two but not risky.

When you see your rheumy in Cork ask him about the group doing research in Dublin.

[blackstone1 in reply to PMRpro]

I certainly will. Can you tell me more?

Thanks

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to blackstone1]

They are doing a GCA study using a different monoclonal antibody drug. Tocilizumab is on the point of being approved but this other stuff is a bit cheaper and a different drug - the more the merrier! At present all there is is pred and these MABs do seem to induce remission quickly - how long it lasts remains to be seen.