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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Temporal Arteritis?

Hi I am a 57 yr old male, with miniers disease (diagnosed age 38)which runs in my family. I was diagnosed with Temporal Arteritis at age 50 after a TIA through biopsy. Neurologist treating after TIA stated I had actually had 3 previously after tests were run. I have not had any issues now for about 7 yrs. Starting about a month ago I started having serious bouts of vertigo that effected my ability to walk, talk etc usually resulting in vomiting. The longest of these bouts lasted approx. 7 hrs (this was the first) but usually last from a few minutes to an hour. The longer ones always seem to involve vomiting now. These do not seem to follow the normal miniers type attack with a steady build up ending in an attack but rather I will be standing in the line at the grocery store, feeling perfectly normal, when I will get an intense vertigo, working on a computer, again just fine, and boom, sudden vertigo - these episodes usually last 5-10 min but have had a few that last an hour or more. A bit of history, after the diagnoses of Temporal Arteritis and the TIA I had an angiogram done of my brain. The results showed that the blood vessels and arteries had been stretched out and beaded thoughout the brain. I was on high dosage of Prednizone for almost 2 yrs (80-100 mg/daily), every time we tried to decrease the dosage the Temporal Arteritis would flare again. I am currently taking 2 mg/day (prednisone) as a maintenance dose. I also take 75 mg/day of Plavix on recommendation of neurologist due to damage to brain blood vessels and arteries, OTC Prilosec on recommendation of Rhuematologist treating/monitoring the Temporal Arteritis, an OTC multivitamin and Diazipam for the miniers as needed in a 2mg dose, though when really bad I will take 4 mg (as in the past month).
Wed, 26 Jun 2019
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General & Family Physician 's  Response
Hello,

From your description, I am of the opinion that Your neurologist is prescribing the right treatment for you. Giant cell arteritis is an inflammation of temporal blood vessels. Idiopathic in nature. Steroids are also very useful. Trust your doctor and have faith.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards,
Dr. Ashish Ranjan, General & Family Physician
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What Causes Temporal Arteritis?

Hello, From your description, I am of the opinion that Your neurologist is prescribing the right treatment for you. Giant cell arteritis is an inflammation of temporal blood vessels. Idiopathic in nature. Steroids are also very useful. Trust your doctor and have faith. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Ashish Ranjan, General & Family Physician