Actemra - dizziness? Nausea? Or too much wine?

[GCAfiveyearrelapse]

Hi - I’m two weeks into Actemra for GCA (a weekly self injection) and have developed dizziness. It’s not extreme and so far it’s manageable. It occurs whether I am sitting standing or walking around. Recently I had occasion to enjoy more than a little bit of alcohol at a party. My night ended terribly - you can guess what I am referring to - vomiting etc etc.

Does anyone have experience with Actemra and dizziness? Alcohol? Under normal circumstances the amount of alcohol I consumed would NOT have had the results it did the other night.

Many thanks,

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Have you tried checking your BP when you are feeling dizzy?

However - dizzinessmerits a heading of its own in thei article about it from versusarthritis

versusarthritis.org/about-a...

When that happens it does usually mean it is pretty common. There is also a section about alcohol - and it looks as if you were just being unlucky.

I used to have that sort of reaction to something - almost certainly to something in certain heavier red wines - and the immunologist I saw said it was typical of a food allergy but we could experiment for years and not identify what it was. She suggested taking an antihistamine tablet in future - and it worked!!

[GCAfiveyearrelapse in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks for the BP tip. I had not checked it but measured twice today and both times it was lowish 110-52. Usually I am higher in fact I am currently on medication for hypertension with BP more typically in the 145-155 range. Great thought to check!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to GCAfiveyearrelapse]

PS: the antihistamine works for me even after it starts - I get a bit of warning, wake up with a churning stomach. If I take a double dose of loratidine then it goes away in about half an hour. More evidence it could be a histamine problem, several on the forum with similar stories though mine is really mild in comparison.

It's interesting - TCZ is more often associated with raising BP.

[GCAfiveyearrelapse in reply to PMRpro]

Definitely interesting as I too expected higher BP not lower. Appreciate the tip on antihistamine!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to GCAfiveyearrelapse]

Definitely worth a try - cheap if you buy them at the right place!

[GCAfiveyearrelapse]

This is extremely helpful thanks. And congrats on no more BP meds.

[GCAfiveyearrelapse]

No it didnt for me but I found the Mayo version so thanks! Yes, getting of the preds is my main goal although my only GCA symptoms have been intermittent vision loss so i need to take this very seriously.