New Medications Are Not Agreeing With Me

Friday I went to my new doctor, a rhuematologist to start treatment for my newly diagnosed Rheumatoid arthritis (early stage, non erosive). She put me on prednisone (2 tablets daily for 1 week, then 1 tablet daily for six weeks) to start working sooner and Plaquenil (2 tablets daily forever) for long term treatment to stabilize the RA.

I picked up my prescriptions in early afternoon and took both. I knew there was a risk that the prednisone would keep me up at night. It did. I barely slept which means I was a touch cranky and nearly fell asleep at the gym (but get points for getting my lazy butt there). I said no more prednisone until Sunday when I can take one tablet first thing in the morning and hopefully it will have worn off in time for me to go to bed. We slept late so I decided to put that off until Monday morning when upon arising at our normal weekday time I immediately took one prednisone. I did take Plaquenil on Saturday and Sunday.

By the time I took a shower, I decided that I must have gotten a sunburn when we ate lunch outside on Sunday as my face was feeling burnt. Upon closer examination my face was all red and bumpy so I figured some kind of reaction. I got to work and the three women who were there (who are mothers and therefore good a noticing and diagnosing little ailments instantly) said 'why is your face so red?'. Their diagnosis was I had a rash all over my face.

I called my rheumatologist's office immediately and ended up speaking with her nurse practitioner as the doctor doesn't work on Mondays. She thought I was having a reaction to the Plaquenil but I could tell she wanted me to head to an ER if it got worse. I am allergic to Benadryl so I couldn't just take one to help with the symptoms. I did tell her I had an appointment with my back pain doctor that after noon to talk about treatment for my newly diagnosed fibromyalgia and would mention it while I was there.

My pain doctor thought it was a reaction to the prednisone and not the Plaquenil but advised not taking either until I talked to my rheumatologist today. He also did not prescribe anything new for my fibromyalgia other than to increase my pain meds dose. I think he wants to get the RA under control so they can focus on one ailment before going on to the next ailment.

I felt pretty yucky yesterday afternoon and drank tons of water on the theory that I could wash it out of my system. I sat around for a while and then went to the gym which turned out to be a good thing as one of the trainers were there and gave me lots of advice for adapting my exercise program until the RA meds kick in.

Last night I went to bed early, and woke up every couple of hours. My face still feels weird but not as red and blotchy as yesterday. The true test will be when I get to work this morning on what today's verdict is from the mother's I work with.

I don't like these new meds. They are turning my world upside down. Who knew two little brown prescription bottles could change my life so much? I need to find something to work for the RA and then go on to the fibro. This will take months. Grr, grr, grr.