Update on Rheumatologist and Right Hand pain

[Golf-1]

I had my third face to face consultation with Rheumatologist this week and 2 things were decided which might be of interest to others with the same problem.

1) We discussed the continueous pain in my right hand, after a thorough exmination of joint movement in fingers, thumb and wrist, he ruled out Carpal Tunnel and thinks the problem is with the tendons rather than the muscles, he is arranging for an Ultrascan to investigate further, I have previously had an X-ray, so now waiting for Ultrascan appointment.

2) After a general discussion about the state of my PMR and complimenting me on how I have managed to get down to 3.5mm of Pred, I told him I was following a Slow Tapering Schedule (thank you DL ). He then asked me if I was prepared to "have a go" at increasing Methotrexate from 15mg per week to 17.5mg per week !!! coupled with an increase from 5mg to 10 mg of Folic Acid, 5mg day before Methotrexate and 5mg day after Methotrexate, with Blood Tests every 4 weeks.

He thinks this new arrangement may make further reductions in Pred easier. After reading so many posts on here where people struggle at these low levels of Pred I agreed to give it a go !!!!!

I am to ring him at anytime if I have Problems/Side Effects with this arrangement

Only time will tell, I will post an update in a couple of months

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Thanks for update -be interested to see what comes back on hand.

As you are down to 3.5mg in less than 3years, not sure you need to up MTX but if you’re happy to give it a go, fair dos.

Let us know how it goes…

[PMRpro Ambassador]

The MTX won't have any effect on the return of adrenal function and that is likely to be a limiting factor from here on. But it is up to you and I hope it works.