Churg Strauss Remission? I’m Not Sure Yet..
Posted by Lew on January 13, 2010
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Hi there everyone!
Yesterday, I went for my first doctor’s appointment of the new year ( and yes, I have another on Friday! ) and I saw my Rheumatologist, and we started to talk about my last blood test results, and apparently they were very good.
So we started to talk about those results and what they might mean for me, and the word ” Remission ” was bandied about for just a few moments, and so I asked the doc just what would be considered remission for my condition, and after going over all the results of my blood work, here is what we talked about…
- My Eosinophil count is near normal levels
- My Kidney Function is perfect
- My last chest scan showed absolutely no abnormalities
So with this thought in the back of my mind, I asked him about a few others matters…
- My Asthma-We talked about the idea that I may have some allergies..personally I disagree with this as the only times I seem to have issues with my lungs is when the colder weather starts to approach here in the east.
My doctor has suggested seeing an Allergist, which I had been seeing for a while ( maybe three months all told ) before I had my episode that led to my hospitalization and of course to my CSS, and this ” specialist ” had me on all kinds of different sprays for allergies that did absolutely nothing to ease my nasal and asthma issues.
Dropped…one useless allergist!
- My Neuropathy-At this point for me, even if I am in remission, the Neuropathy is not going away. It is the result of my CSS condition and I will have to live with it.
I did mention to the doctor that I still notice that the neuropathy seems to react more to the weather than anything else, and that like the asthma, seems to get worse with the colder weather ( and as I am writing this post, the temp in my house is around sixty five degrees thanks a lot! ) so the bottoms of both of my feet are pretty numb at the moment.
- My use of Prednisone-well, this is the ” Main ” issue as far as I’m concerned, because due to my past experience so far, I just cannot lower my dosage of this medication very quickly.
I probably mentioned a little while ago that I was ” Tapering ” down my prednisone dosage, and at this moment in time i am still at 12 and a half mgs, and about a month ago I was at 15mgs so I’m pretty pleased with the taper, but…I have of course noticed the increase of my asthma symptoms, ya know…the heavy chest congestion, more nasal congestion and of course more coughing and nose blowing…I mean you gotta get that stuff out of you!
So, I have to wait for the test results from the blood that was drawn yesterday to come back before I find out if I’m really in remission or not…and if I am than what comes next…?
Comments
2 Responses to “Churg Strauss Remission? I’m Not Sure Yet..”Leave a comment, and if you'd like your own picture to show up next to your comments, go get a gravatar!
Lew…Interesting post. I was particularly interested in your comments re: Prednisone tapering. Having gone through the process myself, you do need to do so slowly. Like you, the cold weather plays havoc with all aspects of my syndrome…my asthma is exasperated, my sinus problems increase; the list goes on. I recently had to start taking 60mg of Prednisone a day and I’m going to start a course of Imuran today. I hope to taper off of Prednisone completely in about 6 months and just use the Imuran for a while and then taper that med. My thought here though is that maybe this time of year is not a good time to try to taper the prednisone. It may be better to try to do so during the warmer months when you’re (we’re) not batteling the influence of the colder weather. I intend to address this w/my rheumy next week.
Stay well.
Hi Rob. Nice to hear from you, and I really appreciate your coming by and commenting.As I’m writing this reply, my chest is congested ( mostly clear mucous ) and my nose is stuffy on and off. Right now, I’m at 12 and a half mgs of pred and I do agree with you as far as right now not being the greatest time of year to try to taper down any further. I will go down to either 12mgs in Feb or 11 and a halfmgs depending on how I feel. I spoke with both my rheumy ( a term I do not use very often by the way
) and also my pulmonologist this past Friday and decided to continue the taper very slowly, as I do not want to find myself in the hospital again this year in May like I was this past year and the year before…plus I can’t afford the hospital bill!
Stay well and let me know what happens with your discussion with your rheumy…
Lew