RA Flare - Medrol Dose-Pak | Arthritis Information
Hey all. I've been diagnosed with Seropositive RA for about 1 1/2 years now. Up until now the only meds that I've taken to manage the RA is Plaquenil, Relafen and MTX. I've been getting some nasty flares and I was "fortunate enough" to be in the middle of one of these when I had my RD appointment. This was the first time that he had seen the "bad" swelling that goes on when I flare. (It seems that it's usually a "good day" at almost every RD visit. Luckily this time was different) See pic:
As you can see in the picture, my right hand is swollen pretty bad compared to my left. My knees were swollen pretty badly also. Anyway, when I was in his office and he saw with his own eyes first hand, he got pretty concerned and increased my MTX dosage. He said he wanted to get my swelling down ASAP so he also gave me a Medrol Dose-Pak. This is the first time that I've been prescribed any type of Prednisone for my RA. This dose-pak lasts for (6) days (I'm currently on day two). Can anybody that has taken one of these Dose-Pak's tell me how long the med generally takes to fully kick in and reduce swelling and also how long the anti-inflammatory effect lasts after you take the last dose on day (6)? Any info on this would be greatly appreciated.
I've been keeping a flare journal which includes digital pictures of my effected bodyparts during flares along with symptoms, etc.,. I brought this to my appointment and showed it to my RD. My RD was a little upset because I haven't been contacting him during these bad flares and I've just been riding them out until my next RD visit that I have in 3 month intervals. He stressed the fact that I "need" to contact him when these bad flare ups occur and last more than a couple of days.
Ta2d2008-05-02 11:57:27Very nice RD you have there. He seems really concerned about keeping your RA in check.
I LOVE the Medrol Dose paks. They usually help me by day 2. Then it lasts for maybe a week after the last dose; many things can make it last less after finished.
I have not had a medrol pak since October of '06. I like you ride out my flares. I probably should be calling my RD telling of my flare, but why bother? She will just bump up my prednisone and give me pain meds. I already have pain meds and well I am not too keen on doing the 21 day pred taper again.
Good idea about keeping a picture diary of your flares. I do that when I feel up to it. I take pictures of my knees when they are at their worse swell and then take a pic of them a week later, most times they are still swelled but not as bad as the week before.
Hope the medrol pak helps you.
Pred has never been as effective for me as most on here, so my results are probably not the best to report. I usually see a positive effect by the second day, but the improvement is gone before the pack is done. Still, it is sometimes enough to get me past a couple of really bad days. I hope it works better for you.Thanks for the replies! I'm nearing the end of day (2) of the Medrol now. Since starting the Medrol my stiffness has improved some and the swelling has went down slightly (although not much). One thing that I can say though is that the difference in my energy level today as compared to what it has been for the past couple weeks dealing with this flare is like night and day. I almost feel wired. I haven't had this much energy in quite some time. Too bad it won't last...........
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