Liver bloods are normal! I can start Xeljanz again

Blood work has arrived and my liver enzymes are normal!  In fact, all my liver blood work is normal.  So many kinds of hip hip hooray!!!

This means I can restart Xeljanz, albeit at a half dose of 5mg per day.  I will take it tonight.  In two weeks I will retest my liver function and if still normal, I can go back up the full dose of 10mg.  And hopefully start to feel better!

I don’t know if 5mg will help at all, Xeljanz is not a miracle drug, but it did give me a 30-40% improvement.  When you’re bedridden and so weak you can barely raise your head, 30% is a lot.  I do think a lot of the illness I was experiencing was due to hepatitis, however.  Not so much out of control RA.  The pain and fatigue I can attribute to out of control RA.

My cholesterol is a little high, but its well below where it would need to be treated with medication.

The only dark spot is my glucose.  My last two tests have been fasting, and the first my glucose was mildly elevated, only a few points above normal.  This one is is a little higher still.  It’s only 6.9, when the top of normal is 6.0. But it bears watching.  Diabetes is another complication of prednisone, and its a serious one.  It’s probably a side effect of the high doses of prednisone I’m taking, and it should resolve as I taper down.

Oh and I have a high white cell count. High neutrophils, low lymphocytes.  That would suggest a bacterial infection.  Hmmm. My white cell count has been screwy for months now tho. Doubt its a problem.

But back to the good news – I can start Xeljanz again!