Good afternoon
lovely people , I am in need of some advice before seeing the private Rheumatologist on Saturday.
My first post on here was ( what is feeling Normal ) I had loads of helpful advice and information . I was also confused about having a high white blood cell count as had been told by the Rheumatologist that is all part of PMR ……. my second blood test the white cell count was back to normal and inflammation counts were good, I did see a private Rheumatologist as at the time I could barely walk , He said the diagnosis of PMR was correct, He did listen to my symptom's and advised me to increases the Preds from 15 - 20 mg per day , after seeing both sets of blood test results, He advised me also to split the Preds dose . that seemed to work better for me . I also had some sort of DNA blood test that came back negative . the in creased dose controlled the sand stinging in arm and leg joints only. groin stinging , muscle stinging remained the same
So I kept my appointment 1 month later with the original Rheumatologist, 2nd February who's manner was far better , and her advice was also to increase the Pred's to 20 mg she gave me a follow up appointment which was last week.
I have been on a roller coaster in-between the appointments , and kept notes which revealed a bit of a pattern, I also developed an eye problem , and a red face after sitting in the sun for half an hour.
I would have a couple of goodish days, then 1-3 feeling very unwell days, followed by a 1-2 day faire up.. Some flair ups I can put down to stress or trying to walk to far. but the feeling unwell days has increased to 3-5 days , my left eye sight went very blurred with shooting pains behind my eye and a sensitivity to light, I also had the red face . I did read quite a lot of info and posts on here, and decided to up my dose by another 2.5 mg per day making it 22.1/2 one week later I felt the same so increased it again to 25mg per day. at this point I was actually able to get my knickers and trousers on without the kerfuffle and pain, movement had improved and I could get up the stairs using my left leg first . I treated my eye for an infection the pain went but my sight is still blurred.
The rheumatologist was not interested in any thing I had to say and was clearly not happy that I had increased my Preds to 25mg. she gave me a good pulling around checked pulse areas on my head , said red face was normal told me to book an eye test. and a diabetic test. her prescription was to reduce the meds to 22 1/2 for 1 week continue the reduction weekly until down to 15mg . needles to say that caused a flair up which has got worse this week.
I went to see my GP and he agreed not to do that yet, He gave me a prescription for another full blood test . oo la all white cell counts are way up again inflammation only slightly. potassium is in the red. he was more worried about potassium level and again said the high white blood count is down to taking Preds ???? So is not a problem ??? the diabetic test is well low. So now I have the unwell feeling as well as a flair up. I will be questioning the private rheumatologist about my white count, but is it normal to keep feeling so unwell with all the other symptoms and how long does a flair up last with you chaps, I know we are all different.
I am also very worried about starting to reduce the meds feeling like I do and will be taking a copy of the dead slow program xx sorry for another chapter and verse again but I would welcome any advice in preparation for my appointment on Saturday
Take care xx