I was in remission for 8 years experiecing nothing but mild aches and pains, nothing that alarmed me at my tender age of 66. Then about 10 days ago, my left foot on top started hurting like the dickens. I weathered it out for 9 days and then folded and went to the doctor. He said it was my RA flaring up and not gout (that I also have). He put me on the Prednisone Burst pack. I did 6 pills yesterday and this morning am starting the row with 5 pills. I don't believe I'm having any side effects just from so much of it yesterday. Anyway, hubby and I are avid hikers in the winter in Arizona so I have to get this foot to feel okay. Glad to meet you all. Hope to get some responses from someone in similar condition. Those that have done the "Burst", anything to tell me? Thank you for being here to talk to. ~Apache Jones
Welcome to the site! We have a wonderfully supportive community here and look forward to including you.
I haven't tried the prednisone burst pack myself, in fact, I had no idea it existed, so I learned something new today. I hope it works for you soon so you can get back to hiking. Does your doctor have any plans for something other than the prednisone? Hopefully, it'll do the trick, but you may want to consider a Plan B of sorts in terms of looking at one of the other DMARDs (disease modifying antirheumatic drugs) like Paquinil or methotrexate.
ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!! I knew that the "primary" doctor was not doing the right thing, but I gave it a chance. He prescribed one of those Pred Burst things, but when I got home I saw that it was just 24mg first day, 20mg second day and down down until all gone on 6th day. I knew this was very low dose, but I thought for sure he knew what he was doing and that I would give it a try. Well, the weird part is my foot felt good the first day on the 24mg, but each day the dose went down my foot began to hurt again. Now I'm all done with that script and hurt like hell. Arghhhhhh!
Now in my other group for emphysema there are folks that have RA too and they talk
about the Pred Burst being like 40mg for 2 weeks, then 20mg for 2 weeks, then 10mg for 2 weeks, then 5mg for a week and then off. That is the strength of Pred I thought I was going to get, but noooooooooooooooo.
So here I sit with my foot held in my hands and just about in tears over the whole thing and can't do anything until Monday morning. When I left the doc's office I made a face about Prednisone, but he said (his words) "that's all I got darlin'". Well, I know better than that with all the meds that are out there.
Can't primary regular doctors prescribe Embrel or Remicade and that kind of thing??
Charlotte
Apache Jones
you need a referral to a rheumatologist. Your GP is a generalist - he knows a little about a lot of different things, but a chronic illness like RA needs someone who specializes in the disease and its treatments. I don't know if family doctors can prescribe Enbrel and Remicade and the like, but I've never heard of one doing it, so it's possible that it's reserved for rheumatologists and that's why he said the prednisone is all he has - his job is probably to give you something that can bridge the gap between him and seeing you and you getting an apartment with a rheumatologist. Ask him to get you an emergency appointment if at all possible so you don't risk permanent damage to your joints.