Lupus Support Group

I hadn't seen him since July, since I had issues with my insurance and slept through my last scheduled appointment (go, fight, win for me, haha!). I saw him yesterday, and got some interesting news. He doesn't want me taking the loratabs for my pain anymore, he's given me some perscription strength naproxen (I know it worked wonders back in my day when I had costocondritis).

He also gave me a high blood pressure medication to see if it has any effect on my raynaud's. I'm a little wary of taking it, since I suffer from problems with low blood pressure already, but he told me it should be fine as long as I take them before I go to bed, so that if it drops, I'm already flat. . . has anyone else had this? I want to see if it will help the raynaud's, but I'm scared that my blood pressure will plummet to the point where my heart stops. My mother told me to take it when I'm at her house tonight and she wants to monitor me to make sure I don't have any issues. Any suggestions?

So glad you got in to your rheumy. I hope the change in meds helps.

Alison

Why did he take you off of the lortabs? For addiction reasons? Did the other stuff work just as well? Just wondering what the rationale was. I've never heard of giving blood pressure drugs for Raynauds. did you go to webMD?

Well, when I looked up the treatment for Raynaud's, taking a calcium channel blocker (which is what I'm going to be taking), can help lessen the effects of raynaud's, and my doctor told me he put me on the lowest dose possible. I haven't read anything about people with lower blood pressure taking this medication, but I'm guessing I'm one of VERY few who will be, haha! Thanks for the advice, Lynnette!

Erin

Ya, I worry about that too...the low blood pressure and all. I don't know what to tell ya. That's a hard one. I guess you have to weigh the symptoms of Raynauds, and how bad they are to the potential problems with the medications...flatlining, one of them. LOL...not really funny. Everyone reacts so different to those blood pressure meds. Go with your gut feeling...is what I would do. And what s with stopping the lortab?

Stopping the Loratabs was kind of a mutual desicion for me and the Rheumy. He'd prefer to have me on something that actually tries to take care of the pain, rather than tell my body that I'm not. That way there's less of a chance for me to get dependant on the meds (I'm really not, I got one 30 day supply back in August and still have 10 left, I only take them when I can't take handle the pain). I feel a little better about taking the Naproxen, if you know what I mean.

Erin

Erin...glad that you saw your rheumy and that you will be taken care of...I wish you well.

Eva