Doctors' Visits

Wow, just noticed that my last post here was October 3.  Where does the time go?  I probably would have written sooner but I ended up cancelling a couple of appointments in November and December due to diarrhea.  And that pretty much sums up the last few months where my main concern has been exactly that.  Just recently I have made some progress using a combination of cephalex  and Immodium.

I have had a couple of flare ups so had my rheumatologist call in a prescription for prednisone which, as in the past, proved to be very effective.  And that brings me to my visit yesterday.  First of all my rheumatologist was delighted with my weight which now stands at 131 pounds.  I have not weighed this much in at least six years so, needless to say, I too am overjoyed.  Thank you TPN.  Also she wrote me a prescription for 200  prednisone with 3 refills, enough to last me a very long time.  I will continue to reserve it for those times when the pain is at a peak.

Today I saw my GI doctor.  Pretty uneventful except that, again, the dietician was pretty happy with my weight gain.  I also asked to have my J-tube removed which, much to my surprise, he did right there on the spot.  Only problem is that some fluids seeped out the hole where the tube had been and man did it stink.  My tpn has now been reduced to 6 days a week.  And that's about it for my doctors' visits.

So, generally, things are going pretty well.  The last couple of days the pain has been slowly worsening so must get my prescription to the pharmacy so I'll have some prednisone on hand.

Prednisone

Just finishing up a round of prednisone to manage pain which had gotten fairly intense a couple of weeks ago.  As has been the case in the past, I started with 25 mg for two days and then reduced the dosage by 5 mg. every two days until I reached 5mg. for the final two days.  This really is an effective treatment in that it begins to work within just a few hours and reduces the pain to a point where it is almost negligible.  It also increases my appetite, a huge plus for me.  On the negative side I had trouble getting to sleep the first couple of nights but have been fine since so it's not a big deal really.  My face also gets a little puffy looking which, for me, is, again, a positive.  Too bad prednisone is such a nasty drug as far as potential long term side effects go 'cause it sure makes life much more enjoyable when I'm on it.

Not sure if it's due to the prednisone or just a coincidence but when I started taking it my cough stopped and I am not spitting up phlegm like I was.

So, in summary, I am feeling great.
It's probably worth mentioning that I have found it necessary to continue to take my NSAID while I'm on prednisone.  I ran out a couple of days ago and have noticed an increase in joint pain.

Did I Mention I also have RA?

It just occurred to me that I may never have pointed out anywhere on here that I have rheumatoid arthritis as well as scleroderma. The reason I haven't mentioned it is that it had pretty much gone into remission. When I started having more pain about a year ago I put it down to scleroderma but am now convinced that the RA has returned. I bring this up now because of the prednisone which is not normally used for scleroderma and should, in fact, be avoided as it can cause renal failure but since I have no apparent renal involvement I guess I'm okay to take it.

Anyway, I am happy to report that the prednisone is doing its job and that I am virtually pain free. This is now day three and I feel great, have been sleeping better than I have in months, and when I finish with this blog entry, I am going to grab my guitar and give it a whirl. Yeehaw, life is good again.