Would suggest you ask your rheumatologist about trying Limbrel for your
condition.  Limbrel is FDA-approved for use as an anti-inflammatory for
osteoarthritis so using it for what you have would be off-label.

Prayerfully in Christ's amazing love,

Andrew B. Chung
Cardiologist, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
http://HeartMDPhD.com/HolySpirit

Message for the wolves in sheepskin:

http://groups.google.com/group/sci.med.cardiology/msg/4f43855be1cfa795?

or
http://tinyurl.com/gextq

Yea, they sent me to a rheumatologist.
Hes the one that said that there was no cause for it other then my own
immune system attacking me.
He also checked me out for Lupas and that came back negative.

The thought of being on prednisone indeffinetly is just as bad as the
pericarditis.

Pericarditis is often a symtom of various auto-immune conditions such as
lupus, vasculitis or Churg-Strauss syndrome. Has your doctor ruled out such
conditions? They tend to be chronic conditions, I'm sorry to say, although
some people do get put into remission without the need for ongoing
prednisone treatment.

Robert

Hello all...

in a nutshell ive been diagnosed with chronic parcarditis.. I forget
the technical term my doc gave but basically my own immune system is
attacking my pericardium.

Ive just got some basic questions..
ok, maybe not that basic but still questions   ;)

They have me on Prednisone starting at 60mg a day. I tried to ween
myself off of them but when i got down to about 10mg my chest felt
brusied so they put me back up to 60. Im on 40mg a day now as well as a
dose of colchicine.

They are trying to ween me off again. I dont think its going to work
though as i still feel as though my chest is bruised so im figuring
when i get down to 20mg or so of Prednisone the paricarditis will
return.. then what? And thats where my questions come in.

With someone with my afflication.. does there sometimes come a day when
the immune system just stops attacking? Even for a little while?

Is there other meds other the Prednisone that i can ask my doctor
about? This stuff is horrible.

I think my doctor has been pretty thourough looking for the cause, as
well as other doctors, with no luck. Has anyone had what i had and
actually found the cause?

Anyhow.. any answers to those questions and ANY info you can give me
regarding this in general would be much appreciated.

I have read other posts and have learned alot but you never know what
people havnet posted and thats why im asking these questions today.

Thanks for your time.