high blood pressure

[Guest guest]

I am new to the group, altho' I have had RA since I was a teenager. Currently,

I am on Remicade every other month. Methotrexate 15 mg once a week, and

Prednisone stuck at 15 mg for almost 2 years.

Two problems: I had been on a much higher dose of pred, have been trying to

back down the dose now forever. 15 mg works. If I drop to 12.5 mg, then I

start getting sleepy, achy, malaise etc. I can't seem to break that barrier.

Within the last two months, I have gone from a usual pulse of 72, BP of 110/70

to pulse of 90 and a BP of 180/100. This started about the time I had two major

work stressors and I slipped a disc in my back bad enough to lead to a foot

drop. My GP says my BP is due to pain, but even as the pain resolves---my BP

stays up.

Anyone have ANY suggestions on dropping the dose? Will my BP come on down if

I can ever drop the pred dose or is high blood pressure just another problem

from now on?

My mother had SLE and high blood pressure herself. She died of CHF at 69. My

father had his first bypass at 53 and died of CHF at 64. My brother had his

first heart attack at 39.

I am a veterinarian in a rural community w/my own practice, so I have a

relatively physical and highly demanding career. The last four years have been

extremely stressful as I divorced, remarried, moved four times, took care of my

dying mother and her estate, plus the stresses of keeping a practice going

during this. Right after my mother died, I developed an extremely odd neuro

problem---unable to keep my balance, " hitler walk " , stuttering and unable to

think straight-resolved w/i a couple of months--high dose pred and seizure

medications. But since then, never able to bring the pred back down to the 7.5

maintenance I had been on before. After 2 years, I am showing signs of it-thin

skin, weight gain(I also had a complete hysterectomy in the midst of all this

too), aging in general...

any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dr.

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