Quote:
Originally Posted by en bloc
I'm sure anything is possible, but it certainly would be rare. I would think the autoimmune process would be more likely in your case since most AI diseases are 'triggered' by either an infection, virus, illness and even trauma/surgery...anything that causes a major immune response. Oral surgery could definitely be a trigger.
I understand not wanting to go the steroid route (I regret my years of steroids and the now permanent damage to my body), but if the course he prescribed is short (5-10 days in a taper), then it might be worth it just to see if the your symptoms improve. If they do, then you would at least know which direction to look for the cause (things with inflammation). You don't have to continue the steroids after you see they help...at this point just focus on hunting down the source of the inflammation.
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I agree with Enbloc - a short course of steroids could be the best way for you to clarify whether your neuropathic pain is part of the inflammatory process. This is nagging away at you and I can't see that a short course would do much harm although I avoid them like the plague as they make me go bio polar.
To shock you a little about the CRP. Mine is usually in the low teens while my ESR is usually quite high - between 30 and 60. Over the last five weeks my CRP has risen up to 160 twice and gone down in between to as low as 6.7! The huge surges have corresponded with symptoms that have led to two week long hospital stays and were assumed to be because of infection the first time but second time - this time last week I was re-admitted - two hospital consultants, one a nephrologist the other general - found no sign of infection. My ESR has been steadily rising and is now at 78. Conclusion - this a reflection of out of control inflammation as part of the autoimmune disease process.
I am not taking steroids yet and not on NSAIDs because of stomach issues. Nothing is simple or straightforward in my world but if I had your issues I'd take steroids and use them to play detective.
