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Recently Diagnosed PMR Disease Progression
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: 9 hours ago | Replies (35)Comment receiving replies
I contacted my eye doctor and was told to contact my PCP first within 2 hours of calling them I was seen by an overflow N.P. who new about GCA and she immediately order everything but the kitchen sink for lab work and urine sample , she ordered an ultrasound of head and neck soft tissue but my local hospital can’t do that ultrasound so they tried the next closest hospital which I guess Stat doesn’t mean emergency when the scheduler goes home before order is finished. Depending on results they might have to do a biopsy. She wanted to put me on steroids but wanted to wait on lab work and ultrasound
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That is similar to what I went through when I went to the local emergency room for temporary vision loss. They were trying to distinguish between GCA and stroke, so over 2 days I had extensive blood tests, EKG, EEG, MRI of my brain, ultrasound of my heart, and a temporal artery biopsy. I saw quite a few doctors, including the emergency room doctor and 2 neurologists. They suspected GCA immediately, so they started me on daily IVs of high dose steroids. I was hospitalized for 3 days so that I could receive the IVs.
The week following my hospitalization, I saw my PCP and a rheumatologist, and the rheumatologist advised me to see an ophthalmologist as soon as possible, since I had had several episodes of temporary vision loss due to the GCA. I think I saw the ophthalmologist the following week. In your case it might be ok to see the eye doctor a little later, since your vision was not affected. But it is still good to follow up with them because of the problems that can be caused by prednisone.