@tsc. Thankyou for your post. In answer to your questions, yes, I had symptoms of extreme fatigue and achey muscles for several months before the GCA diagnosis. I was in my kitchen at home when I suddenly lost most of the vision in my right eye. A right temporal artery biopsy was done shortly thereafter, confirming GCA, followed by an appointment with my Enterologist, who sent me directly to the hospital from his office. I was hospitalized for three days of 1000 units of Prednisone by I.V. daily over the three day period. As I posted in a prior message, I had a stroke on the second day (July) and a second stroke in September. The strokes were likely the result of the GCA vasculitis, known for causing strokes and heart attacks.
I had a heart attack in July of this year and was hospitalized for three weeks.
My rheumatologist has cut my Actemra injections back from weekly to every two weeks, but my weekly lab work has shown a drop in WBC, Neutrophils and Haemoglobin so I'm waiting to hear whether that's the result of the Actemra cutback. Always something!!
And yes, there sure isn't much posting about GCA, but quite a lot about PMR. I wish there were more Connect members to discuss GCA, a rare and serious disease.
Keep well, tsc. Warm regards, Laurie