visited my rheumy today ( - followup on strange bone problems . . .)

June 9, 2006

After my abnormal bone scan a month ago, my rheumy sent me to a bone

specialist who ruled out Multiple Myeloma (cancer) and Osteomyelitis

(infection) - thank goodness! He seemed to think the rib fracture

that won't heal is a result of long-term prednisone use, and that the

other areas are inflamation from arthritis, not infection. He still

does want to do an MRI of my left shoulder, which I waiting on Blue

Cross to approve. He did not want to do a bone biopsy because he said

my bones were too fragile - again, because of the prednisone.

Everytime I try to get below 7.5mg, my sed rate starts climbing, even

with taking 20mg of methtrexate weekly. I do take Fosamax, but it's

obviously not enough to stop the bone loss, and 500mg of Metformin for

the steroid induced diabetes. Along with calcium, folic acid, vitamin

C, vitamin D, etc.

The fluid from my knee still shows very high levels of inflammation

even though my sed rate is below 20, and the specialist thought that

my shoulders, upper back, rib cage, and sternum area would show the

same if tested.

Today I went to my rheumy for my monthly visit. Now that he's assured

that there is nothing else going on, he's starting me on Humira. If

Blue Cross will approve it without trying Enbrel first (I'm not sure

exactly why he prefers it, but he does). He says Blue Cross usually

wants to start with Enbrel, but Blue Shield with Humira. Doesn't make

much sense to me! Hopefully the Humira will work and I'll be able to

taper off the prednisone completely. While I still have some bones

left (I'm only 57)!

Grandchld #3 will be making an appearance in a couple of weeks, this

business of not being able to lift my babies or get down on the floor

to play with them bothers me more than any of the pain or other

limitations!

So, I have a treatment plan. What I don't have, and probably never

will get, is any specific diagnosis or explanation for the multiple

joint inflammation without the markers in my blood chemistry.

--

South Pasadena, CA

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