Yet another Prednisone question!

[Cindy M]

I haven't been to the dentis since November of 08 when I started getting sick. In October of 08 I had some dental surgery done on both sides of the upper teeth. I have bridges on both sides and went to a periodontist and had some posts implanted on both sides to better hold the bridges. Within a month or so I started getting alot of sinus and teeth pain. At the time they weren't sure if I was dealing with an absessed tooth or an infection from the surgery. It turned out after 2 months of pain and antibiotics it was WG. I have often wondered if this surgery set off the WG or not.

I am now dealing with more teeth pain (my teeth have never been very strong, spent many hours in the dental chair) and I am now going to go back to the dentist. The dentist I was originally going to has since retired so I have made an appointment with a new dentist (this does not thrill me, I have quite the fear of dentist). I am a little worried because of the amount of meds I am on. Does the freezing work the same when you are on preds and cyclophosamide. Because of my sinus involvement I always have teeth pain. Also, when all of this started with WG I never did go back to finish off having the bridges properly completed so both of them are temporarily glued in place. Man, what a mess!!!!!

[elephant]

I had many visits to the dentist and had a tooth abscess 5 years ago. My teeth hurt when my sinuses act up or infected. It is annoying! This disease is a pain!

[Sangye]

Cindy, there is evidence that certain dental work like root canals can set off autoimmune diseases, so maybe it did trigger the Wegs.

[elephant]

I had a root canal in 2005, it took forever to heal. Two months on antibiotics.

[Doug]

Cindy, there is evidence that certain dental work like root canals can set off autoimmune diseases, so maybe it did trigger the Wegs.

I'm not so sure a root canal I had in early October 2007 didn't lead to the herpes zoster mess I have endured since late October 2007! It certainly struck a body predisposed to infection and other mischief, and has been a much worse component of my overall health than WG, if you can imagine such a statement.

[jola57]

A friend of ours, an internist, did some studies years ago and he is convinced that wegs is a result of an undiagnosed and untreated infection. Since it was in Poland not much notice was taken of the study and it was never followed up.

[elephant]

Jolanta, I would partially agree to that, I think we ( us with Wegeners disease) were born with a defected immune system and then we get a untreated infection to trigger Wegeners. Another theory!

[Nancy C]

Everything I have read says that Wegs is not genetic/hereditary. My mother died of lupus. I find it hard to believe that it a coincidence that we both had/have an autoimmune disease!

A couple weeks ago I wrote that I was off the prednisone..that was a good day! Well I am back on them after only about 3 weeks as I had joint pain and the bottom of my feet were hurting which was one of my first symptons before I was diagnosed. I knew my Doctors were bringing me down to fast and I expressed my concern to all of them. They kept concurring as I went from 10 to 2.5 mg in about 6 weeks. Once at 2.5mg I was only on that for a week and they told me I could stop. Now they are all agreeing that I was probably right. I know I know I know I need to find a Wegs specialist. I promise I am going to make an effort to do that this week. Other than the joint pain I feel really good so I am not complaining.

To all the Mothers out there..I hope you had a wonderful Mothers Day!

[Sangye]

I still vote for the toxins origin. Toxins dysregulate the immune system. That allows for infections to take hold. In my case, there's no way it was caused by an infection because we were massively boosting my immune system and it only made me sicker. The type of treatments I was doing would easily wipe out Lyme, numerous parasites, viruses, fungi, bacteria, etc..... I was, however, exposed to huge amounts of toxins--particularly when I first got symptoms. The only proven causes of Wegs are solvents and silica exposure, though they acknowledge those aren't the cause for all cases.

Nancy, we all learn things the hard way with Wegs. Don't be hard on yourself. Now your docs know to listen to you and YOU know to listen to you! That can happen even with a Wegs specialist. Last year I knew I was flaring. My original symptoms were reappearing and/or worsening. My Wegs doc attributed it to other things and it didn't become apparent for several months. By then I was in pretty bad shapen with hemorrhaging lungs. Now he listens differently to me, realizing I truly know how Wegs affects my body.

Dropping your pred that fast was inexcusable though. Any rheumy should know better. Fast drops can trigger many autoimmune diseases to flare. What dose are you on now?

[Nancy C]

Thank you Sangye. I have been following your story through many of the threads and you have really been through the ringer. I am so sorry.

I am currently on 2.5 mg I do not think it is enough as I am still sore after a week. I am going to call my rhuematologist today. Feels like I am going backwards..ugh