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I start Acterna infusion next Monday. Diagnosed with GCA in May. Was immediately put on 40mg of Prednisone and was down to 10mg waiting to start Acterma when CT scan at Mayo Clinic found clots on my lungs that I was clueless about. No symptoms and I exercise vigorously six days a week .
So now I’m on Eliquis too after an overnight stay in hospital .
They also raised my Prednisone back to 20 mg and gave me a slower taper.
Now I see a Hematolgist next week about the clot cause on my lungs.
I have two questions for anyone taking Acterma
(1) do you have to fast before infusion
(2) how long after infusion do they tell you not to do anything strenuous
Replies to "I start Acterna infusion next Monday. Diagnosed with GCA in May. Was immediately put on 40mg..."
I do not have to fast for Actemra..Only thing they ask is if I will have sugery.
Can do activity afterwards Trina
1. No
2. No recommendation given. Though I decided on my own to lighten up for a couple of days afterward.
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1) I have never been told to fast before any Actemra infusion.
2) I have never had any activity restrictions after any Actemra infusion.
I have no restrictions at all with Actemra except maybe Actemra being held for any infection. There are frequent monitoring labs that should be done when Actemra is initiated but those labs aren't done very often anymore.
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I had a pulmonary embolism that was called extensive, bilateral, multiple and "unprovoked" when I was on Prednisone. I wasn't completely clueless because I did admit to being slightly more short of breath than usual. Otherwise I thought I could go home.
Instead of going home, I was sent to the intensive care unit for 2 days. I was seen by a hematologist, a pulmonologist and other -ologists but I wasn't sure who they were. Nobody could explain with certainty what happened but "prednisone" was frequently mentioned. A "cascade of blood related events" was the determination of the hematologist but no clotting abnormalities were ever found.
"Warfarin for life" was initiated to prevent any recurrence of another pulmonary embolism. At the time there was no end in sight to my long term Prednisone use.
Maybe it was just a coincidence but warfarin was discontinued when Actemra allowed me to taper off Prednisone. The risk of me having another pulmonary embolism was less. My PCP was reluctant to stop warfarin but the PE incident was revisited when Eliquis was being considered. Now I'm off anticoagulants for the first time in more than 10 years.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0049384816300378