Rheumy Update

I had a Rheumy visit today.  He noticed my hair looked like it was thinning.  I showed him my bald spot, which I've also posted here for your viewing pleasure (along with my white hair...double boo!).  He confirmed that he thinks the hair loss is caused by the lupus and not the prednisone.  He said that bumping up the prednisone dosage may help to slow down the hair loss, but before we try that, he said to start taking a pre-natal vitamin and biotin supplements.

I told Rheumy about the random joint pain I've been experiencing -- one day in my knee, next day in my wrist, next day in my little toe.  He said that is pretty normal.  The term they use for it is "migratory".  I thought that was a good descriptor.

My blood test results did show lupus activity and my urine results showed small amounts of protein and blood.  We'll try testing one more time, and if it is still present, I'll need to take a more exact test so we can get a protein count because it could be a sign that the kidneys are being affected.  I asked him if I'd have to do the test where I pee in a big jug, but he said no.  That is the most accurate way to get a protein count, but there is another test that gets very close and is not as inconvenient.  We'll also check my ds-DNA one more time, but if it comes back ">300" again (which it showed in the past 2 tests), then it probably isn't worth it to keep testing it for now.

For now, I will stay on my 2 mg dose of prednisone.  If there is still lupus activity, Rheumy said it would be better to increase the dosage if it will keep the lupus in remission.  He said that if it were between going up and down on a 2 mg dose or staying stable on a 5 mg dose, the 5 mg dose is by far the better choice.  5 mg is still considered a low dose, and the danger of going up and down is that there is a higher likelihood that it could spike suddenly.  We'll monitor again in about 6 weeks.

- a little lupie -