Medical Treatment:It is treated with medicines that reduce the activity of the immune system. Treatment may involve 3 stages:
- Treatment first aims to bring the symptoms of GPA under control. Usually, it involves:
- Having injections of a medicine called cyclophosphamide every 2 or 3 weeks, or taking it as tablets every day
- Taking steroid tablets daily or having steroid injections into your blood at the same time as the cyclophosphamide injections
- These are all powerful medicines, so make sure you talk to your doctor about the possible side effects
- This first treatment stage lasts until your symptoms are under control, that usually takes a few months.
Keeping the condition under control
- The treatment aims to stop your symptoms from coming back once your condition is under control
- Stop treatment with cyclophosphamide
- Taking tablets of less powerful medicine, such as methotrexate or azathioprine, which dampens the immune system
- Taking steroid tablets daily
- It may change or restart your treatment when your symptoms come back or you get new symptoms at any point