Hello!

[Guest guest]

Good Morning Everyone,

I was lurking for a while, and have decided pipe up! I'm Lynn, 52, live in

VA...have RA in my hands and now, rheumy suspects in my big toes. I also

have a rare muscle disease called dermatomyositis which affects my skin and

the proximal muscles. I have OA in neck, spine and knees.

I was started on 60mg. of Prednisone for the DM back in November and

decreased until I hit 10 mg. 3 weeks ago. I also take Plaquenil. I know

the mega dose of Pred. really did knock down my pain from the arthritis.

Boy, do I recognize myself in your messages! Such a moon face!! I was

embarrassed to go out and be seen in public or in a meeting at work. I have

short hair, so no help there. I, too, lost a lot of hair (had curly/frizzy

hair....once on Pred., I had a thin cap of straight, flat hair! Oy va!) I

let my hair grow long in the back to cover my camel's hump. Did any of you

get that dreadful lump of fat at the back of your neck? Mine is huge! And

yes, the fat redistributes itself to your upper trunk...so I got a lot of

" help " around my waist. Darn! I really didn't need the help. My rheumy

tells me the hair will grow back, but it lags 3 months or so, after the

Pred. taper.

But things are improving...I'm also hypothyroid, and switched from Synthroid

to Unithroid and have experienced improvement in hair growth already.

Can't do HRT cause I've had a second blood clot (one in each leg) and am on

coumadin for life! I do natural herbal remedies for my hotflashes. I also

have steroid induced glaucoma...so please be careful of your eyes on

Prednisone and Plaquenil.

My rheumy is talking about MTX because my disease flared again, she upped my

Pred. to 15 mg. for the next two weeks, but I seem to be getting worse.

I've been reading up on MTX and am not really happy...I'm wondering if it

will " enhance " the coumadin and maybe not be a good thing to take if one is

already on blood thinners. Anyone have any experience here? I have heard

you can get some pretty bad headaches.

So far, the increase in PRednisone has not helped with my rash from the DM,

in fact, I'm getting worse. But, I looked in the mirror yesterday and was

shocked to see this swelling again on my face that makes me look like my

mouth is frowning! Good grief!!! Obviously, the Prednisone went straight

to my moon face!! LOL!! Oh well, here we go again.

Hope all are well and feeling good this morning!

Lynn