She's right a good sunscreen works to manage sun sensitivity rashes. Also, get a few cute hats and have some fun with that. I wear hats a lot in the summer and people came to know me by my hat wardrobe. Often gifting beautiful and funny hats to me. I don't wear the funny one, but it's fun to laugh at them when I receive them. I don't wear hats all year long, because I live in north eastern Wisconsin and it's dang cold and gloomy here in the winter. I wear winter hats, that keep my ears warm, but makes a mess of my hair.

Are you on Plaquneil? Plaquneil helps skin rashes too.

Do we have an inbox option?

Are our email addresses private?

Michelle

You will now be able to send an e-mail to anyone on the user list as well as establish Facebook-like connections.

To use these features, go to the 'List of Web Site Members', choose one, and use the 'message' and 'connection' tabs.

Joan

I have learned that when you send an email from this site the recievers address is private until they respond and then they will show their address.

I'm questioning and testing regarding privacy and security concerns.

Does anyone on this forum know anything about Promacta? Has anyone tried it? If so, what were the results?

Thank you. MaryEllen

There is another blood test they are supposed to do before starting Imuran but i cant remember the name of it. I think its an enzyme It rules out a problem that makes sure the Imuran wont work something like 100x stronger dose than it is. The call might just have been to get this test done.
Ive been on Imuran for 2& half years now and have had no probs with it and kept my counts up lovely!
Good luck
Julia

Don't forget to watch the Haiti fundraiser on TV tonight. I know it's being broadcast in NA.

Ive been on plaquenil for over 3 yrs now. The only side effects I have had is stomach upset. But that too comes and goes.

I don't know if it works properly but if you hit the link that says 'Show Latest Posts' and then on the drop down box choose 'Since Last Vist' that seems to be the most like the old Active Discussions although it doesn't lay things out as nicely.

I'm still trying to get used to this site. It "looks" pretty, but it is so darn slow that I'm tempted to post on the old site. I know I need to move forward on here though!!

Anyways, Caitlin had her IVIG last week. It didn't really boost her count at all. She only went up from 19 to 24. They had to treat because she had some bleeding and they were afraid it was internal bleeding. They decided to put her back on a high dose of Prednisone last Tuesday and we got a count today. No response again and her count went down to 20, but at least this time...she has no bleeding symptoms. I'm worried once she finishes the steroids though, we'll be dealing with some symptoms.

I have a feeling Caitlin will be starting the Rituximab/Rituxan this week, pending insurance approval. I truly hope that this will work for her because she is in the "angry" stage now where she is mad that nothing is working. If she wasn't in anything...that would be one thing, but she is being restricted at doing something she loves. I am more worried about the side effects of Rituxan than anything. If she has the same kind of reaction that she had to IVIG, she is going to be missing alot of school the next few weeks (if we start) and I don't even know what to do about work. And I HAVE to work...I don't have a choice because my husband is self-employed so I carry insurance for the 4 of us through my employer.

Trying to remain positive for Caitlin. She does have another competition in the morning and she should have fun with that. (No dangerous tumbling or flying) One of their teammates is out due to having a concussion earlier this week and she is really not able to remember anything. (She got it during a pep rally at her high school when she was basing for a stunt...the girl on top of her fell down on her and then she hit her head down on the hard gym floor.) They said it can take up to two weeks before everything comes back so she doesn't know who some of her teammates are or any of the routine. She did go up to Caitlin (one of the few names and faces she recognized) last night and say that she finally knows what she goes through with all of the pokes and prodding and it is not fun. I pray they all pull through tomorrow and it would be so nice if they could get a win, but that is wishful thinking at this point!

I am sorry to hear Tim's counts went down again, but I know what you mean...nothing is unexpected once they've been going through low counts for a while now. What a hard decision that you both have to make coming up...a splenectomy or something else.

We're starting to head down the same pathway too where some things are not working anymore. I just don't know when you can say it truly doesn't work anymore though. Because Prednisone worked really well for Caitlin last time and this time, it had no response at all. I don't know if this means she won't get a response if she goes on Prednisone again.

I hope Tim is remaining in somewhat good spirits. If this hadn't hit us smack in the middle of competition season, Caitlin would be "ok" with all of this. We need her counts to be low in the summers and high during the year, but of course...it's just the opposite! Continue to hang in there! I am hanging on only because we're not out of options yet..

Was Caitlin taking pred straight after stopping the Nplate and not getting a response? I ask because reading up on Nplate, I see that when on it the body's natural TPO is suppressed so when you stop the Nplate some people won't make platelets at all. And of course if you're not making platelets there are none for the pred to preserve. That happened to me on missing a dose of Nplate and crashing, the pred did absolutely nothing.

Will they do a low dose rituxan? If not then it's maybe worth looking into as there is a less likelihood of side effects.

I'm with you with the slowness of the forum and sadly when it gets busier it's going to get even slower. If you go back to the old forum it feels that it really flies.