MRI all good

[Trish21]

Excellent news I have been for MRI today and everything is normal. 😁 TIA doctor thinks headache is migraine although cannot explain extremely tender scalp, says inflammation markers are lower than normal, not sure what that means. Keeping me on 40mg of pred for the next 2 weeks then reduce by 10mg each week until weaned off. I figure I will consult gp before finishing pred completely as 15mg gave me relief of pmr symptoms. Any input gratefully received.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hi Trish,

Good to hear, but not sure where that leaves you. Was it a full MRI or just your head? Do you have PMR? And not GCA. Or is the conclusion that as “everything is clear” you don’t have either?

Your inflammation markers may be lower than “normal” but that’s probably because the Pred is keeping them abnormally low - mine were like that early days on high doses.

Obviously if you still have PMR only and not GCA then you don’t want to drop below 15mg without further discussion, so a GP appointment would be sensible.

[Trish21 in reply to DorsetLady]

Hi, just head MRI, not ruling out pmr not ruling in gca, personally I think I have pmr as my symptoms vastly reduced by 15mg pred. I will get over the biopsy and the stress of the last rollercoaster week and make an appointment with my lovely gp. Thanks for your input it's been a great help.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Strange - how can you have "lower than normal" inflammation markers when the bottom of the range is 1!!!!

[Trish21 in reply to PMRpro]

No idea! The fact is I have not had a TIA or any nasty surprises in my head so I am delighted. I have paroxysmal aitriel fibrillation so at a slightly higher risk of stroke along with suffering from migraine for 55years. Just looking forward now to recovering from a very stressful week

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Trish21]

You are on anticoagulant therapy because of the a/f? That is the single most important thing to reduce the risk of stroke.

[Trish21 in reply to PMRpro]

Not yet but it's on the cards in the future, I have a couple more years yet

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Trish21]

a/c therapy should be instituted right from the start - a/f is a major cause of stroke. The UK is beginning to come round to the idea it is necessary. Here you don't get out of the hospital until they have got it sorted.

[Jan_Noack in reply to Trish21]

did your TIAs stop when you went on pred. How are you going now. I seemed to stop dropping things onpred. I was diagnosed also with moyamoya

[Trish21 in reply to Jan_Noack]

I did not have TIA's I have paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation and I take flecanaide sulphate to keep my heart is sinus rhythm which it does most of the time. I cannot say that being on pred makes any difference to the AF flutters I have, but since being on pred I have had 2 episodes of AF one very bad causing me to visit A&E and one not at all bad which passed quite quickly.