Re: Re: New to group-

[Guest guest]

, welcome to the group. I'm sorry i am late in welcoming you. We have

a great group here and so much knowledge. I'm so sorry to hear about your

hearing loss. Please continue to ask all the questions that you want and

share your experiences with us.

I had my first ear flare in 1998. It was diagnosed as cellulitus. I was

given antibiotics and after about 3 weeks, it went away. It stayed away for

a year and then the same ear flared. This time nothing would touch it. I

was sent to an ENT and he dx it as RP and put me on prednisone. ( short

term) It went away only to return 6 weeks later. I was put on vioxx and

pred. This worked for a while then they decided that I needed to add

Methotrexate so I could get off the pred. I was on 25mg of pred for a year

and only got my pred down to 25mg. I then tried Imuran and I was unable to

take it ( one of the few) lol I was then put on Plaquenil and pred and this

seemed to work for me. I was able to get my pred down to 7mg. I am

currently taking 200mg of plaquenil and am back up go 20mg of pred after my

surgery. Am hoping to get that down ASAP. LOL I was oringinally prescribed

400mg of plaquenil and think i will try again to take that dose.

As you can see we are all different and different meds work differently for

all of us. It is just finding what combination works for you. I think

Glenda is so right. Pred is the first line drug of choice for us to STOP the

flare in it's track. The pred works fast and takes care of the pain for me.

My flares affect my ears, nose and ribs. It did get to my heart valve, but

that is taken care of and I'm doing fine.

Please just continue to ask and you will get all the answerers you need or at

least a place to go look for them. I'm sorry you need us, but glad you found

us.

hugs

<< How did your doctor diagnose RP

initially? Would you tell me what meds you have taken? I would sure

like to know what sort of pain meds work best for the bad flares. >>