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Statins - side-effects, PMR, Giant Cell Arteritis
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: May 26 11:42am | Replies (22)Comment receiving replies
@isabelle7, It does sound a little confusing and if it were me I would want to have an in depth discussion with his doctor or rheumatologist before starting Actemra if there is a possibility that he has an infection. I think it can be difficult for anyone trying to navigate severe illnesses and only we know how we feel. I think it does help to write down all of your questions and then maybe plan your conversation with the doctor ahead of time.
Is this something you can discuss with your husbands care team or doctor?
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@johnbishop
Hi John,
Thanks for your response. He doesn't currently have an infection. Our concern is that when they started him on Lipitor in Feb he developed a cough and cold-like symptoms. Around the same time he developed Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) so they stopped the Lipitor and all supplements, just giving Prednisone until we figured out what was going on. That's when we got the GCA diagnosis.
Fast-forward, and there is talk about him restarting the Lipitor. But last time it caused a cough and cold-like symptoms and we want to avoid him getting any kind of infection because he's on Actemra. Things are going as well as could be expected. He's lowered his prednisone from 80 mg per day down to 30 mg per day with the help of Actemra, and we're still in the tapering stage. Some of his worst side-effects from Prednisone are lessening and we'd like to keep on this good path. The goal is to get him off prednisone or at least way lower dose an stay on Actemra for a couple years, according to his doctor.
Throwing a statin in at this point scares me.
It's really hard communicating with his rheumatologist. We have an appointment in later June which is good. In-person. I tried to get a virtual appointment and none until August. Which is frustrating. We'll also contact our GP who has been helpful with some things.
I appreciate all the responses I've gotten from people on this site. It's so helpful!!