Now go back to bed; it's late.

 

Glad you're feeling better Patty. The drug you're taking is a steroid and should provide much needed relief for the inflammation (swollen joints) that you have. My doctor gave me a steroid (different type) for an inflammation I have in my arm yesterday. I hope it works.

 

Patty it is good stuff, but can't be taken on a regular basis, hopefully, it will get you over the hump...

 

Wow, glad to hear this is helping! And sorry it's not a long term regular solution... hopefully they come up with something that is.

 

You had a full blown flare up. It is not unusual to have a flare up. The prednisone will make you feel better but does not slow the progress of the RA, it just masks it. If it comes back after you get off the prednisone your doctor may have to adjust your meds.

You may also have to got to the next tier of meds, such as methotrexate.

Steroids have all kinds of unpleasant side effects. They should only be used rarely.

The biologicals such as Enbrel or Remicade are very effective but also dangerous. The long term effects are not known, at least one of them was shown to be carcinogenic. They also make you vulnerable to infections.

Do you know about the Arthritis foundation? http://www.arthritis.org/

Hope some of this is helpful.

 

Congratulations Patty you're now taking steroids and will not be able to compete in either the tour du france or any olympic events.

I'll bet your appetite got a whole lot healthier too.
I always got the "take on the world and I need some rocket fuel" hunger whenever I was on them for any period.

As a side effect if your head is stuffed up it probably cleared out to since any irritation will be reduced.
prednisone works well but due to it's nature you can't take it for long periods (months) without some deleterious side effects.
But quite often it can swing things back in your favor to let your body catch up a little.
I found it will tend to stay in your system after you stop taking it for 2-3 weeks, give or take a little.

 

[quote name='dlq04' date='Jan 15 2009, 12:51 AM']

 

I have wanted to check out a website but don't know if I saw that one. Thank you for the link. This "flare up" has been building gradually and just got to be depressing. When it hurts just to clean the cat box, or try to look at the tread on my S, I'm getting very unhappy. When I don't want to go to the movies with my honey, because I'm afraid of the pain of sitting for two hours, that makes me sad. I'm active, dammit! WTF?

I just hope to get some time with this relief. When I went to my RA doctor last week, he told me I had four choices. Stronger medicine than Plaquenil, cortisone shot in the knee, and what the hell else? I did the cortisone but it only helped for two days. He has me coming back in two months, with blood test beforehand to see how the inflammation level is.

In two weeks, my has set us up for a mini vacation to Yosemite for my birthday. I want to hike all over, painfree. Right now I could do it. I just hope it lasts.

 

...So, now the Plaquenil doesn't seem to be helping. The great effects of the 6 days of METHYLPREDNISOLONE, in January, lasted two weeks.

I went for a second opinion on Friday with a new Rheumatologist. She said I have an aggressive form of RA based on blood tests. (For 3 plus months, my right knee's been painful and swollen, and I have a painful and swollen lump on my right wrist, among other pains.) She gave me the choice between Methotrexate pills or Enbrel injections. Problem with Methotrexate is that I'd have to stop all alcohol. I love wine at night. I like champagne with friends. I like margaritas when I hit the local Mexican restaurant. Realistically, I would hate to stop drinking and probably wouldn't. So that leaves Enbrel, which has nasty side effects like possible cancer. Crap! I go back in a week and a half, to most likely get directions on how to self inject Enbrel.

 

Sorry to hear things have not stablized or gotten better. Do any of the doctors think it has anything at all to do with your new home location? Or is this something that would have happened no matter where?