I'm 6 years into my PMR journey now and was OK until tapering below 5mg pred. Gradually my fingers started to seize up and now at 1mg I can't bend my thumb or index finger on right hand. Have had x-ray on both hands and all is OK. Had physio and still no success. Rheumatology is sending me for a blood test to test for AI among other things. Do I take my pred before the blood test is my question.
Insty
No - you shouldn't take pred in at least the 24 hours before the blood sample is taken. Take it once the blood sampling is completed.
However - what makes them think it is adrenal function? It may be the underlying cause of the PMR is still active. You aren't reducing relentlessly to zero - you are looking for the lowest effective dose.
The underlying cause was thought to be simvastatin which I stopped after the PMR was diagnosed. Thanks for the quick response and a very useful forum.Insty
correct me if I am wrong, but shouldn,t the referring dr or blood lab let patient know, when and what to do before blood tests, this is what I have been use to?
I am lead to believe, we should be getting directions, from our dr,s or rheumy,s, and do get a lot of information from this forum, but as Ive been told, we need to actually depend on our dr,s etc for experienced, and correct direction, that was what I was told in previous quieries,
Depends on the system - usually in the UK it will be the doctor who orders the test but many of them aren't as familiar as they maybe should be with the individual tests and are probably too overworked to be bothered to look it up for each patient. Sometimes even the consultants aren't aware of lab requirements and it is the phlebotomist - but even they aren't always up-to-speed with drug relationships. Technically, all blood tests should be tken on a fasting basis - then you are safer.
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