What should be the next step?

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What should be the next step?Let me start off by saying that I am 18 years old and I had pain and swelling on a few of my fingers and toes back in December. Went to the ER and was diagnosed with MRSA. After 8 days on Bactrim with no improvement, my general doctor said she had no clue and called an infectious disease who turned us to a dermatologist. We watched it for 3 weeks and after a few cycles of swelling and waning, we went to a rheumatologist. My history of psoriasis lead her to think it was Psoriatic Arthritis but we can't get any solid clues to hint such as blood tests or damaged joints.

We tried Medrol and I had an allergic reaction so I have been switched on 10mg prednisone for a month to date which took the pain away, but not a lot of the swelling. In addition I have had a dry cough for about 4 weeks now and I am not due back to the doctor until April. What should I do?

-Mags
Under the circumstances you should consider some basic remedies for a dry cough such as green tea, lemon and honey. You don't have a working cough and as a matter of fact this could be a side effect of the prednisone. You should get plenty of fluid as juices, soups. Watch the sodium content. Although you can gargle with salt or baking soda and warm water.

Before you take over-the-counter cough medications for a dry cough (cough suppressants) talk to your doctor on the phone. If that isn't possible, at the least, talk to your pharmacist.

In terms of the swelling, you are already taking a powerful steroid and we should not make alternative suggestions.

I'm glad the pain is relieved, sorry that the swelling has not abated much. It may take longer for the prednisone to be effective or your Rheumatologist might have to go back to square one in April.

I'm sure you have read about Psoriatic Arthritis but here is a link you might not have seen:
http://www.healthline.com/adamcontent/psoriatic-arthritis

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