Leslie,
Sorry you are not feeling well, I had a bad bout of periocarditis last christmas and could barely move I was in so much pain. My rheumatologist put me on Indocin for a while and it cleared up pretty quickly and hasnt resurfaced since.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I had to work over the week end and could barely move by Saturday morning. You are all right, even just a touch of pericarditis is immobilizing. I was desperate and called my rheumy on Saturday morning who said to up my prenisone and keep taking the Lodine. I had to work again that night and he told me to do an EKG on myself at work and show our ER doc. He said that if there were any "ST changes" to call him to get admitted and he would start IV steroids. Everyone is suggesting Indocin but he doesn't want to give me that at this time. He has never hospitalized me before for this. So, I did the EKG and there were slight changes but I had some mild relief - so I am trying to recover at home. He wants to try Celebrex next. I am not interested in that drug...my stomach is in complete dismay! From everything that I have read on this site, steroids are not the answer, the NSAIDS are the cure. He keeps pushing the steroids...
I will try again to get him to start the Indocin to stop this after 3 months! I am tired of hunching forward to breathe and sleeping on the couch. I feel so bad for anyone who has gone or is going through this.
The steroids have done wonders for my other systems though. My kidneys are normal now. No more protein and the levels are within normal limits. The trade off is that I have gained over 50 pounds now. Oh well.
Thanks so much for the info and take care!
Love,
Leslie