Temporal Arteritis

Hi @MLeeB,
Welcome to Connect. I'm the new Community Director here. To help you connect with other people with a similar condition I moved your question to an existing discussion. Here you can read what others have written. They will also receive an email notification when messages are added and hopefully will rejoin the conversation. That's the value of patients helping patients :).

@sissie35, @hpilcher1 and @doogie Do you have any insights to share with MLeeB?

Colleen
PS: Welcome back to the new Mayo Clinic Connect. We're making changes and improvements.

High dose prednisone for over a month cured my temporal arteritis. A friend actually had the artery involved cut out with surgery, which worked for her. No recurrence.

I am an elderly woman recently diagnosed with temporal arteritis with severe temple pain and eye problems. I am on 40 mg prednisone a day and blood pressure meds had to be increased, my feet looks like elephants, and very anemic.

Hi Shirley, welcome to Connect.
I'm tagging a few other members @crhp194 MLeeB and @johnbishop to join this conversation about temporal arteritis..

Shirley, I'm glad that you have found the cause of your temple pain and eye issues and are now being treated for temporal arteritis. How long have you been taking prednisone? Did your doctor explain what might be causing your feet and ankles to swell?

Hi Shirley, I have aortic giant cell arteritis. It’s like temporal except that it’s aortic and no pain. I expect the treatment is similar, however since both are auto-immune diseases. Mayo started me on 40mg of prednisone and methotrexate. The prednisone has been reduced over a year’s time and I now take 5mg. Last blood test still showed Higher CRP so after taking methotrexate for a year, I need to continue it. I have had no problems with either med so I expect you will not have trouble either. I do know you will feel better after you have whatever medication the doctor prescribes. I have on the off chance it might help started working on my weight to possibly help the inflammation which is a characteristic of auto-immune diseases. I have no idea if this will help but I needed some weight loss. I wish you the best, Shirley!

Hi @shirley17, I would like to add my welcome to Connect along with Collen (@colleenyoung). I agree with Colleen that I would hope your doctor can explain or treat the swelling in your feet and ankles. I have polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and take prednisone which I believe is for the inflammation of the joints in my case. It sounds like the prednisone was started when you were recently diagnosed. Have you been back to see your doctor since you were diagnosed with temporal arteritis?

I would recommend talking with your doctor about your swelling in the feet and ankles as soon as you can. You might want to try and keep your legs elevated when possible to help with the swelling. Mayo Clinic has a symptom checker that you can use to help identify some of the common causes for swelling in the feet and legs. Here is the link:

John

Hi Colleen,

I've been on the prednisone about 1-1/2 months.  The doctor said today the prednisone could be causing the swelling, but ordered an venous doppler

Thanks, John.  Talked with y doctor today.  She has ordered some further tests.

Shirley

Thanks so much for your information.  Good luck with your weight loss.  I am gaining at the moment.

Shirley

I was prescribed high dose of Cortisone for 2 weeks and tapered off the drug. Prednisone played havoc with my gut and took me a couple weeks after the treatment to feel better. I am now in remission and Dr. McHenry will continue to monitor my eyesight, because there could be a relapse.