Stelara round two

[Fred]

Update time.

Just got back from appointment with dermatologist and rheumatologist, saw both together at the same meeting which was good.

The short story is that we are going to stay on 90mg for three months then have another review.

We have had a very long chat and though I thought stelara was letting me down on the psoriatic front it was actually starting to work again by upping thoe dose from 45mg every 8 weeks to 90mg every three months, we have all agreed Never to consider trying methotrexate again after going through my report back to them.

Basically my dermatologist was right to bring in the rheumatologist as she thought the Stelara was failing on the psoriatic arthritis the same as me, but the rheumatologist said it had decreased it's efficacy do to going onto 45mg every 8 weeks. That was fine for the psoriasis, but not good enough for the psoriatic arthritis and she said by the last increase to 90mg it was now kicking back in and was starting to help with the psoriatic arthritis.

So although I have got down to 89kg, they think it's best to keep going on 90mg and see how it goes. So I'm a very happy bunny as it means I can stay on Stelara for another three months and get on with life.

The rheumatologist also said as soon as I stripped off and she saw my knee that it was fluid on the knee and not psoriatic arthritis that was causing my biggest problem, when I asked if it was possible that the fluid could make the psoriatic arthritis feel worse in my shoulder, arm, hand, etc, she said "it's not impossible"

So I have had a needle shoved in my knee and a load of fluid drained out, she feels that draining it and going for another 90mg will do the trick.

So it's a good result and seeing the two together was great, and getting them to both agree Stelara can still do the job without methotrexate was a bonus.