Maintenance dose of pred for GCA | Arthritis Information

Share
 

Rather late in my PMR journey, I seem to be having trouble with GCA.  I'm currently on 6.5 mg of prednisone, and I'm wondering how much of an increase I can expect my rheumy to recommend.  Many thanks for any and all advice, and may be wll have more good days than bad.Well, I'm sorry that my last sentence got away from me.  I meant to say:  "May we all have more good days than bad."IF the rheumy decides it is GCA then the initial dose should be somewhere in the range of 40 to 60mg/day because the inflammation MUST be got down quickly to reduce the risk of sight loss - so the treatment is seriously aggressive. The taper is then usually pretty quick down to 20 or so providing the symptoms resolve. Sometimes they give pred as injections or an infusion to get the levels up quickly - depends on the doc and the situation.

 
If you go to the pmr gca uk northeast support site there is a link on the left side of the homepage to useful info and it has the British rheumatology association Guidelines for dx and treatment of GCA which you might find useful. Link following! Good luck,
 
Eileen
 
www.pmr-gca-northeast.org.uk

Don't know why it doesn't work - but that's where you need to go - sure google will help! And not useful info - useful links!

EileenThank you again, Eileen!  (I believe it was you with a different user name on the UK site.)  I was helped by the UK site you mentioned and will be seeing my rheumy today, so I feel as if I"m on the right track.  Have a lovely weekend!I assumed it was you but posted both bits just in case it wasn't! Hope you had a good outcome with the doc - and that it isn't GCA messing up the PMR! Have a good weekend too!
Eileen
Thanks again, Eileen.  I'm grateful to say my rheumy is confident my recent symptoms are not indicative of GCA.  (I've also recently seen my ophthalmologist.)  We realize the SED rate is not definitive but are encouraged that mine was only at 10.  So, I'm to stay at 6.5 mg for two more weeks; then, in the absence of any new and/or weird headaches, will reduce to 6.  (I'll post this on the UK site as well, in case anyone else is following us.)  Hope you're enjoying a lovely Italian weekend, while I'm having a pleasant one at home in Florida.
Copyright ArthritisInsight.com