I have GCA and tapering from 60 mg now down to 3.5 through 1.5 years .
At 3.5 mg I had
Right hip pain
Frequent urination, foul smelling urine
Sudden pain in right eye with redness
Following advice on this superb forum , I increased the prednisone dose to 5 mg morning and 5 mg night from 3.5 mg only once in morning which I was taking before this problem .
The problems have reduced by 80 percent in 3 days of increased dose.
Does this mean then that it IS a flare?
All blood reports For kidney , liver , CBC , CRP etc are normal .
There was some discussion when I last reported this here 3 days ago that one sided flares are not too common .
But this is the second time I have had similar symptoms ( once at 6.5 mg ) and they resolved with increased dose of pred for 10 days and then drop back to original dose.
Opinions requested please . They are invaluable for me.
TIA
Written by
Iwillwin123
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From my own experience GCA pains can be one sided. Mine have always been only on the right side, both initially before I was diagnosed, and with two subsequent flares. Though each time the pains have been in different spots - right back of head and around right ear, or right forehead and temple. I've also had brief but very noticeable eye pains from time to time since diagnosis - again right eye only - but without the redness you experienced, and my bloods remained normal. It's hard to say whether your symptoms were a flare or not, perhaps a slight infection which may have resolved itself without the increased pred? But at least you have the reassurance that your bloods show no inflammatories.
I am still concerned since I have blurred vision in just a small corner of the eye. Am seeing an eye specialist tomorrow. Will update here once I meet him .
Thankyou for telling me of your experience with your flares . There really is nowhere else one can obtain these priceless insights except here .
"But at least you have the reassurance that your bloods show no inflammatories."
Not always 100% reliable - 20% of patients never have raised markers and many find that once they have fallen they lag a long way behind in a flare before rising again, especially if the patient is on pred even at a relatively low dose.
I agree that if we have ongoing symptoms which suggest a flare, but the bloods come back normal, we should be cautious. But in a situation where the symptoms subside and the blood markers are normal, we have to trust that all is well, otherwise we could go mad with anxiety.
I don't think I would assume sudden pain in the eye with redness could be ignored because it improved with pred. Foul-smelling urine is a sign of a UTI and should be investigated with at least a dip test and preferably a culture - other symptoms such as cystitis could also be masked by pred. Did you self medicate with pred with the approval of your doctor?
Yes I understand the value of your observations. I have scheduled an eye checkup for Tomm -Monday .
Have done a urine culture - is negative.
Have done all the kidney related tests - all negative.
Did go up on prednisone by 5 mg on my own ,since My rheumatologist is not available till Monday.
Thankyou very much for thinking over my issues and giving me suggestions and wise advice. Will report here on Monday after the visit to the eye specialist . I still have blurred vision in one small corner of the eye. Am worried about that .
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