Orencia, high blood pressure

June 2, 2010

Awhile back I posted a question regarding Orencia and whether it causes high

blood pressure. I got my answer yesterday when I met my " new " rheumy doc. Nice

guy, I am impressed! He said since it was the first time we'd officially met he

wanted to reevaluate my joints (being surprised at my 'tender' age & the amount

of damage). While doing that we chatted about my blood pressure, which has gone

up slowly but surely. He sat down, looked at my chart of meds, and said, " Well,

it's NOT the Orencia. It is the sulfasalazine that is raising it and I don't

like the amount you're on. It's a low dose but if it's already causing a BP

problem I don't want you on it. Stop taking it today! Give it a couple of weeks

maximum and your blood pressure should be back to normal. That will take care of

one health problem for you! " AWESOME!

I am going to give my GP doc a heads up that I'm going to be taken off this and

why. I can monitor my BP and check in with her to know when to slow down the

Lisinipril! I'm SO HAPPY!

More good news: I have a 25yr old whiplash injury that has finally sprouted two

spurs plus I have degenerating discs. That has added to the neck problem by one

particular disc squashing out against the spurs and applying pressure to the

nerves that power my right thumb and first 2 fingers. This caused enough

pain/weakness in my arm that I was unable to work last year. I have gone to a

Neurological surgeon for evaluation and he spent 1.5 hours talking to me about

my situation, my rheumatoid disease and how it may affect the surgery, the

Cephalex** resistant bacteria that I'm a carrier for, and the usual surgical

possibilities. He firmly believes that my neck can be fixed which would solve

the second big thing bothering me (my BP is the first). So in Sept I will be

having one last MRI on my neck and in Oct I will have surgery on my neck to

remove that disc. It will be replaced with an artificial bone graft and 3 metal

plates will be attached to hold the space properly. I can't wait!

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