I have always known that I wanted kids especially going into my 30's. Well, I'm 39 now and currently on Prednisone, Plaquenil and Cellcept to treat my SLE and lupus nephritis. I know that I can't get pregnant on Cellcept since it's a class D drug but my doctor is hopefully going to take me off of it sometime this year since my kidneys have greatly improved and are functioning normally now. I had one miscarriage in 2011 that was considered a chemical pregnancy and ever since then, I have been mourning the loss of it. 

I guess my concerns right now are if I can even get pregnant because of my age and having been on Cellcept and Methothrexate (in the past). Also, am I going to be able to handle a baby with my lupus. But regardless, I still want to have a child. As much as I am always happy to hear others having babies, I can't help but feel a sting wishing that that was me. 

Right now I am doing a lot of wishful thinking and have gone to a fertility specialist to get my body checked out. I don't think I want to go through any type of fertility treatments because I'm afraid of how my lupus is going to react. I guess going there is just my way of knowing if it's even possible for me to get pregnant again. I want to go see the high risk OB I saw after my miscarriage for another pre-pregnancy consult but I find myself continuing to try to talk myself out of it for feeling silly going when I don't know if I can even get pregnant again. 

Am I beating myself up too much or am I being realistic? 

It's been quite a few weeks since I posted last. I just started 11mg two days ago. Since my last post, I have seen my Rheumatologist and my Nephrologist. I informed my Rheumy about what has taken place since I last saw him a few months ago and how I was currently in the process of weaning off my steroids. He thought I was doing things properly by weaning off every 2 weeks but also suggested weaning off every 3 weeks instead if I start to feel increased effects of the weaning off process. I took his advice and decided to wean off every 3 weeks. Of course, I informed my Nephrologist also that this is what I was doing. He was on board with it as well.

The good news from both appointments was that the cocktail mix of Cellcept and Prednisone has worked really well for me and my kidneys are functioning at a normal level!! My serum creatinine levels were at 0.84 mg/dl. (The normal range for women for this is 0.5 to 1.0 mg/dl. For men, it is 0.7 mg/dl to 1.2 mg/dl.) 

As of today, after weaning down to 11mg of Prednisone, my joints have only been slightly achy and I'm just a little bit tired. This is nothing like how I was feeling when I would stay at a certain dose for only a week or two. I'm still getting brain fog though. Sometimes I think it could also be caused by the nice weather too...haha! 

My little puppy (though not that little anymore...from 3 lbs at 7 weeks old to 10.5 lbs at 5 months old) has been a lot easier to take care of.  



She has gotten the hang of potty training and is barking at the door to let us know when she needs to go out. During the times she has too much energy for me, I take her to doggy daycare while I am at work to play with other dogs/puppies. Because of the cost, I only am able to do once every couple of weeks though but every little thing helps! 

I can't even express how happy I am that the medications have worked for me. I haven't felt this "normal" in such a long time. 

So today I had two specialists appointments. The first was with my nephrologist and the second was with my cardiologist. Both were equally important appointments but I was really more anxious about my kidney doctor appointment. The reason for that is because today was the day I could possibly start weening off of my Prednisone.

I was officially diagnosed with Lupus Nephritis in February 2012 via a kidney biopsy. I even got a second opinion. Since then, I started taking Cellcept and was put on 60mg of Prednisone a day to combat the disease. The plan was to start Prednisone at 60mg a day and gradually decrease until I was on 20mg. From then, I was to stay on 20mg a day for 6 months. Well, today I finally reached my 6 months!

Prednisone has always been both a friend and a foe. It has helped me through some of the toughest times of my disease flare-ups but it has also caused a few side effects I would have rather not experienced. For me, the worst side effects are insomnia and increased anxiety. I've been okay with taking Prednisone for the last year this time around because kidney involvement is a big deal. Although everyone has two kidneys and can function on one, if I am able to keep both, I'm going to try my hardest to do just that.  I have to be honest in saying that this past year, Prednisone has been my friend. I haven't felt so close to normal in a long time until these past few months. I'm sure being on Cellcept has helped too, though. (This is the first time I've ever been on Cellcept and so far, so good! Well, with the exception of the first couple of weeks of being on it.)

I've been really anxious to get off of Prednisone because for one, it's never good to be on it for so long and two, I can't wait to get rid of this moon face of mine. In the past, I've never been able to go down in my dosage past 5mg before I would start to flare again. This time around, I know I have to be extra careful not to let my kidney involvement advance any further. So needless to say, I was a little hesitant today when my nephrologist told me that he plans on eventually weening me off of Prednisone completely.

This nephrologist is one of my newest additions to my plethora of specialists so he hasn't had much experience (compared to my Rheumatologist) with how my lupus works with the medications that I have been on. I didn't hesitate to tell him of my past experiences with Prednisone, that's for sure. He still wanted me to be off of Prednisone completely. He is, however, planning on weening me off by 1mg a week and to see him in 8 weeks. By then I will be on 12mg of Prednisone. I should be excited, right? Um, yes but not completely. I'm really a nervous nelly about it!

As I mentioned before, I'll be getting my puppy in 2 days. With a new puppy comes a lot of training and lack of sleep. Lack of sleep for me usually equals flaring. What timing, right??? Well, I decided I'm still going to follow the doctor's orders and see how it goes. I'm guessing he will be deciding whether to stop decreasing if I start to flare. But you bet your bottom dollar that I'm going to be calling him at the first indication of a flare! Ahh, the joys of dealing with this disease....

I'm really praying and hoping all will go smoothly and be okay. Only time will tell I guess. But with the puppy being with me tomorrow, I think I'll start this new regimen either this weekend or right after.

Oh and by the way, I got the "all clear" with my Cardiologist. My heart is quite healthy!