GP Visit

[Laurapc]

Today is a God awful day on the pain scale. I have an appt with my GP tomorrow to discuss my current situation. This is at her request as she is now sharing my care. In my previous posts I mentioned I would stay on 5mgs of Pred until I see the Rheumy on January 9th! The reason being she wanted to see how effective Actemra and MTX is with the minimum amount of Pred. I don't think I can wait that long for something to be done so I am going to ask if I can up my dose by 1mg daily to find a level I can function at. (This was a really helpful suggestion by PMRpro). I am having an MRI in two weeks, am I right in thinking an increased amount of Pred is not going to affect the result or give any false readings? I can virtually predict I won't need to go above 10mgs.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It depends what the MRI is for and what sort - is it an ordinary one or a PET scan? For PET scans the amount of pred is significant and the lower the better. Too much and it suppresses the emissions.

However - why does she want to wait - if you are in this much pain while on Actemra AND mtx together with minimum pred and the pain is increasing surely she has her answer? It doesn't work. Leaving you for another 6 weeks won't improve that. I wouldn't be going back either. I hope your GP has rather more common sense...

[SheffieldJane]

HERE! HERE! All that PMRPro has said. You are not to go through the holiday season feeling like this! What is the matter with these people! She wants to try it for an hour. 😠