yo dawg, yo

[phaballa]

This is going to be a long, probably boring, probably eyeroll-inducing entry about my health (or lack thereof), so if you're easily annoyed or whatever today, you might want to skip.

Comments

[dont_panic4242]

Ugh. Pharmacists are not doctors. It's great that they're there to talk to you about your medications and tell you about side effects and suggest you should talk to your doctor about any concerns, but frankly I think this dude crossed a line when he basically told you that your doctor was mismanaging your illness. Also, he's wrong. Assuming you have some sort of autoimmune disease (RA, lupus, whatever) that's attacking your joints, taking an immune suppressing drug like prednisone DOES treat the underlying disease. It suppresses the overactive immune cells that are trying to eat away at your joints. NSAIDS/painkillers don't do this at all, but prednisone does. That's (presumably) why your doctor switched you over - because your blood tests revealed some sort of active inflammatory process. Any rheumatologist (indeed, any reasonably well-informed physician) could tell you that prednisone isn't a good long-term solution, but that's because of all the long-term side effects, not because it doesn't work. And I highly doubt that your

[call_me_loca]

Thank you for that, I was trying not to get ranty about it, myself, LOL.

[dont_panic4242]

I... am unfortunately prone to ranting. :) But thanks!

[phaballa]

Oh, I know. I mean, I've read a ton of stuff about RA and I've read the studies involving prednisone, so I do know that with DMARDs it can be incredibly effective. The pharmacist wasn't alarmed until he looked at the the supply she gave me, and considering that my rheumatologist didn't tell me anything, basically, about why she was switching my meds and moving up my appointment, he was just very cautionary. And when he saw that I'm also on levothyroxine because I've got hypothyroidism, and also that I have an infection, he was extra cautionary about it. Considering that my rheumatologist told me at my appointment that she didn't want to put me on a DMARD because of how I might want to have babies someday, the switch to predinose with no indication that I would be starting a DMARD as well was very alarming to me, anyway. I definitely don't want to use prednisone as my sole treatment. If that's not the case, though, she can tell me on Thursday and maybe convince me that prednisone is the way to go. My mom did say it would make me

[dont_panic4242]

I had to dig around for a bit to even find any information on why prednisone/levothyroxine is listed (by some sources) as an interaction, because frankly I've never seen anyone hesitate to give steroids because someone was on levothyroxine. After some research, it appears that higher doses of steroids (ie. prednisone 25mg per day or higher) can cause a slight (well, up to 30%) reduction in T3 levels (though T4 levels remain normal). Frankly, I don't see how that's in any way relevant. For a short (eg 1-2 week) course of steroids, I doubt it would be a big enough effect to make a difference in how you feel (and the dose you've been prescribed isn't even high enough to cause that effect anyway). For long-term steroid use, you could just adjust the dose of the levothyroxine to compensate. *shrug* Whatever? There might be a dozen reasons to hesitate about taking steroids, but that really isn't one of them

[phaballa]

Lol, rant away

[dont_panic4242]

Things to ask your doctor

[phaballa]

These are all great questions. I am totally C&Ping this into a Word file and printing for my visit. Thank you so much!!!

[dont_panic4242]

Yay, glad I could be helpful. :)