Re: Prednisone related Heart Conditions

[Guest guest]

thanks for the advise.  I stopped taking prednisone awhile ago and now I am

glad I did.  Get well and hang in there!

 

Heidi in Denver

From: cynthiadew1 <cynthiadew1@...>

Subject: [ ] Prednisone related Heart Conditions

Date: Friday, August 6, 2010, 6:10 PM

 

The discussions of prednisone has been very timely for me. It seems some of the

problems I have been having that I have attributed to RA, and bronchitis is

actually Heart damage caused by taking prednisone for so long. Now, I am not

saying that this will happen to everyone. I do not like to scare folks. We

already have enough to deal with, with just plain o' RA. I am interested in if

anyone else has had heart problems that a Cardiologist said were caused by

Prednisone. My Cardio said The One big cause of my heart problems is most likely

the prednisone I have taken over the years for RA. This has been in the last

week, and my last appointment with my Cardio doc was last Wednesday were she

said she was looking into prednisone being the cause. I am still into the

diagnositic portion of the game, I've had EKGs, ECGs, a SPECT scan (stress

test), and next up is a CT Angiogram or plain angiogram with the possibility of

having stents put in. No one has mentioned

having Heart Failure yet, hopefully I have dodged the bullet on that. The

reason I ended up at the Cardiologist's offices is I had problems with my heart

during my last lumbar spine surgery, and my spine surgeon wanted me to be

cleared for my next set of surgeries to work on my spine, this having been

caused by RA and side effects of prednisone use. Gawd, if it isn't one thing

it's another. I will keep the list updated on what is happening, but in the

meantime here are some of the symptoms to be on the lookout for just in case

it's your heart and not your RA. Swollen feet/legs, Shortness of breath, major

fatigue, pain in the chest, a dry or wet cough. Any one of these thing and

combinations are things I deal with as a RA patient. So, if you have any of

these symptoms, ask to be seened and checked out by a cardiologist. Another

year, and my outlook would not be good, and I am only 50. These symptoms started

years ago, and were put off as being part of

RA, my being too young for heart disease(have we heard that one before?), and

the famous, " Oh, you just over did it. "

Be aware

[Guest guest]

Hi

Can you please get back to me when you have a final diagnoses - am very

interested to hear the outcome.

I'm 39 but have had a damaged aortic heart valve since the age of 9. I was

looking at Open Heart Surgery (to replace the valve and aorta) 2 years ago due

to increasing heart faliure, however I was the opposite - my RA meds helped me,

especially the Pred and my symptoms reduced. Sure I will still need this surgery

but it's given me another 3 years - at least.

My RA was making my symptoms worse - no one yet can seem to tell me exactly why.

My anuerysm even enlarged substantially and now hasn't even moved in 3 years

since.

Also i'm interested to know if you're on any of the TNF inhibitors? They were

once trialled in use of Heart Failure and there were some cases where it made

them much much worse - I was the opposite and found it helped me a little. Just

wondering if this might be at play for you? My Cardiologist and Surgeon had

never heard of the trials so it might be worthwhile mentioning??

> From: cynthiadew1 <cynthiadew1@...>

> Subject: [ ] Prednisone related Heart Conditions

>

> Date: Friday, August 6, 2010, 6:10 PM

>

>

>  

>

>

>

> The discussions of prednisone has been very timely for me. It seems some of

the problems I have been having that I have attributed to RA, and bronchitis is

actually Heart damage caused by taking prednisone for so long. Now, I am not

saying that this will happen to everyone. I do not like to scare folks. We

already have enough to deal with, with just plain o' RA. I am interested in if

anyone else has had heart problems that a Cardiologist said were caused by

Prednisone. My Cardio said The One big cause of my heart problems is most likely

the prednisone I have taken over the years for RA. This has been in the

[Guest guest]

,

Of course, I will get back to the list with what is found.

I read something of the weekend about TNF's and heart disease. I can't remember

where I found it at now. It would be an interesting thing to read though.

I think I may have to go back and read the side-effects for Actemra. I stopped

taking Remicade the first part of March. So if a Anti-TNF alpha inhibits heart

issues, I started having problems about the same time I stopped. Actemra is a

IL-6 inhibitor, and may not have all the same properties? Perhaps?