Posted 9/18/2018 9:17 PM (GMT 0)
I don't have RA, I have Crohn's disease with extra-intestinal manifestations of inflammatory arthritis and iritis (currently). I'm on Entyvio and Imuran which is controlling gut symptoms, but my arthritis has been flaring for 7 months and within that time I've developed iritis 3 times.
I've done courses of prednisone, starting at 60mg and also a cortisone shot and draining of my knee. This helped somewhat, but the prednisone never completely resolved all of the arthritis. I'm trying and have tried various types of diets, fasting etc., but my arthritis and iritis is still hanging on and sed rate is still high, 53.
Have you ever had IV steroids to get you out of a flare, and is that a common treatment? Do you have to stay overnight at the hospital to do that? I've had IV steroids in the past when hospitalized but my gut symptoms were also flaring, and my GI admitted me. I don't know how Rheumatologists normally handle this, but is this a possibility? I'm debating on asking my Rheumatologist to finally get out of this flare, but is it likely symptoms will return after tapering? When I had the IV steroids previously it calmed the arthritis pretty well. I'm at a loss as to what else to do.
How long do you guys usually wait until you do something drastic? I've been in this flare for 7 months, and although I can move around now, it still affects my mobility somewhat, and I know the constant inflammation is damaging my joints and my eye. Oral prednisone didn't seem enough. Do you go higher than 60 mg out of the hospital?