@maryannhaller. By "GCS" do you mean GCA, Giant Cell Arteritis? Surely, with your symptoms, your rheumatologist should have tested you for that. The "golden" test for GCA is biopsy of your optic artery. Painless, with just local anesthetic, and virtually no visible scar at your hairline just in front of your ear. Perhaps your second opinion doc will perform that test. It's the only sure diagnosis for GCA. I have had weekly Actemra injections, a medication specifically developed for GCA, for over a year. A year before that, I was hospitalized for 3 days of I.V. Prednisone injections because the GCA had caused blindness in my right eye and this was to stop the blindness going to my left eye. That saved the vision in my left eye! I was on high doses of Prednisone for the following year and then my rheumatologist put me on Actemra. Much easier to take than Prednisone!
I hope you get some answers from your second opinion doctor.
Warmest wishes, Laurie