SpaceflightAddict
06-27-2014, 01:22 AM
Well, I knew this was coming. I have been feeling pretty crummy for the past month and a half, and my last bloodwork pretty much confirmed what I had been feeling. WBC went from 7.1 to 13.1, CRP went from 2.4 mg/L to 9.1 mg/L, and sed rate from 4 mm/hr to 11 mm/hr.
What a bummer.
The recent problems started about a month and a half ago, when I tapered my prednisone from 5mg to 4mg. I usually feel pretty bad for a couple of days after a pred taper, but this time it dragged on a little too long. A little bloody discharge from my nose prompted me to call my rhumey and primary doctors, and they wanted to make sure it was not just a sinus infection first. After a week and a half on antibiotics, with not much improvement, my rhumey upped my MTX to 25mg, and i've been there for a little over a month now.
Where to go from here? I suspect that more prednisone will be the short term answer (ugh). In the longer term, i'm not sure. I am already at the highest dose for MTX, so maybe some other drug is in order. I really doubt they will put me on CTX again. My insurance does not cover Rituximab, but if that is an option, I will try to get the co-pay card from the manufacturer. Appointment with the rhumey is scheduled for this Monday, so I guess I will find out more then.
It's been just over a year now since I first became sick, and 10 months since I was diagnosed, and I am a lot better than I was this time a year ago, but this disease is just getting annoying now :predrage:
Just wanted to rant a little bit. Thanks for listening yall.
What a bummer.
The recent problems started about a month and a half ago, when I tapered my prednisone from 5mg to 4mg. I usually feel pretty bad for a couple of days after a pred taper, but this time it dragged on a little too long. A little bloody discharge from my nose prompted me to call my rhumey and primary doctors, and they wanted to make sure it was not just a sinus infection first. After a week and a half on antibiotics, with not much improvement, my rhumey upped my MTX to 25mg, and i've been there for a little over a month now.
Where to go from here? I suspect that more prednisone will be the short term answer (ugh). In the longer term, i'm not sure. I am already at the highest dose for MTX, so maybe some other drug is in order. I really doubt they will put me on CTX again. My insurance does not cover Rituximab, but if that is an option, I will try to get the co-pay card from the manufacturer. Appointment with the rhumey is scheduled for this Monday, so I guess I will find out more then.
It's been just over a year now since I first became sick, and 10 months since I was diagnosed, and I am a lot better than I was this time a year ago, but this disease is just getting annoying now :predrage:
Just wanted to rant a little bit. Thanks for listening yall.