Things I'm learning about my meds

Yesterday I was told to lower the Prednisone dose to 2 pills (10 mg) from 3, and this morning I noticed a bit of difference already, so I did some more in depth reading on the various side effects. Turns out that even after taking it for a short time, as in seven days, you start building dependency on the drug, so you can't just stop taking it all together and need to reduce gradually. Given that Prednisone gives you a bit of euphoria, the other potential effect of reducing the dose, is depression. So it explains why I woke up a bit more sluggish this morning.

I suspect that once I have breakfast and take my 10 mg. dose I will perk up again! But I better not get too used to this, as I will eventually have to go off prednisone completely.

Monday I will start my weekly Methotrexate and we'll see how that goes.

Final diagnosis

So today, August 13, 1009 at 9:20 am, was the day and time I got the final diagnosis based on the more detailed lab work and X-rays. Dr. K confirmed that it is Rheumatoid Arthritis, and not Lupus, which was the other possible diagnosis. One piece of good news is that the X-rays showed no joint damage!

I am going to continue with Prednisone for the next few weeks while I will now also start the initial dose of methotrexate with the goal of allowing methotrexate to take effect and then reducing and finally eliminating Prednisone. This is the clinical part.

And so the journey is on. I was dreading the finality of this moment, as in a way there is no turning back now, no denial, and I need to take this head on!