update

[Guest guest]

Hi friends :-)

Sorry for having been so quiet lately....things are really not good over

here and I am just too tired and worn out to even vent about it all!!!

As usual, this too shall pass, but I really am beginning to wonder if we

are ever gonna get a break!! Sure could use one about now.

Anyway...saw the rheumy yesterday and wanted to share the news. Went in

there not feeling well at all....all of my joints and muscles are

hurting again, and its progressively gotten worse over the last two

weeks. Wierd thing about it though is that while both sides are

hurting, my left side is substantially more painful than my right, from

my neck all the way to my foot. Doc just said hmmmm...so I don't know

what it means. Ultimatly though, I have been pretty miserable the last

couple of weeks. In addition to the pain, I have also been very very

tired, having a hard time getting up and moving until after noon pretty

much any day. This is tough when you have kids that need to be cared

for.

So yesterday rheumy was saying we needed to start the Mtx, then in about

6 weeks we would be able to start to lower the prednisone. Didn't

really have any brilliant thoughts about the pain and why at 60mgs this

was an issue!!! But ah well. He took some blood and told me to call

today for my CK number.

So I did and the good news is that my CK is at 130!!! Well within the

normal range finally!!! So, rheumy changes his mind, says to NOT start

the Mtx, and to begin lowering my prednisone by 5mgs a week and we'll

see how things go from there. I have mixed feelings about this, but

anyone telling me I can lower the prednisone is a friend right

now...LOL.

I do wonder if there is a chance that the prednisone is the culprit for

my ill feelings, or atleast alot of them, rather than it being due to

the PM/DM.....one can hope!!! I see the metabolic exercise doctor on

the 14th for testing (wish me luck..supposed to ride the exercise cycle

for a while that morning), the neuromuscular doc on the 15th for follow

up, and the cardiologist for an Echo on the 19th.

BIG hugs,

, PM/DM