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Think I have Giant Cell Arteritis (or GCA)

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Jan 30 8:20pm | Replies (70)
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@amandajro

Hello @SusanEllen66. I can imagine your experience last weekend with losing your vision was very scary.

I actually found an existing discussion on Giant Cell Arteritis (or GCA) so you will notice that I have moved your post here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/think-i-have-gca/

Members such as @novabill @tsc and @pickle7 have shared in this discussion and may be able to come in and share if they had a similar experience and provide you with some support.

Have you scheduled a biopsy of the temporal artery just yet? If so, when?

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Replies to "Hello @SusanEllen66. I can imagine your experience last weekend with losing your vision was very scary...."
SusanEllen66 | @SusanEllen66 | Jul 31, 2022

Thanks. No biopsy yet because the vascular surgeon I am being referred to is booked out until December. They are going to try and squeeze me in as an emergency.

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Teri | @tsc | Jul 31, 2022

Hi @SusanEllen66, Before I was diagnosed with GCA, I lost vision in my right eye three times for about ten minutes each time. All I could see was white, but it went away. That was a few months before I had the temporal artery biopsy. A good friend, a doctor, told me that if I ever had difficulty seeing again to go to an emergency room immediately, as I could go blind.. My rheumatologist had the same reaction as your doctors when I told him I saw white, not black. He said it was unusual. Sometimes prednisone is prescribed before the tempioral artery biopsy. Have you had the blood tests for inflammation?
My doctor friend told me this is one of the only emergencies in rheumatology! I wish you the best, hope you don't have to wait too long for the biopsy, and hope your doctors will prescribe prednisone in the meantime.

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