@dadcue I cannot imagine 13 years on steroids. I had more than my share of side effects and it will be about 6 months total for me. I wanted off if for no other reason than the side effects. I fought going on them for 3 years but when Covid sent my inflammatory markers sky high again I caved. I started at 5mg/day went to 7.5 and landed at 10 to cut the pain. I then had to stay there 6-8 weeks longer than my rheumy wanted because my neurologist was running tests and said he might put me on 30-40mg/day. No good reason to taper if I'm going to stop mid-stream and go that high. Fortunately I could be treated with steroid injections in my neck from a pain management doctor. As soon as I found that out I started tapering.

I see an endo as well, but not for PMR. She does follow my PMR with interest and has shared a little with me but for now has stayed hands off. I see her for my hypothyroidism which is treated with Synthroid and 5mcg/day of T3. The steroids I take for PMR are known to interfere with your bodies ability to convert Synthroid (T4) into T3. The lab work since I started taking the steroids clearly shows I am having problems. The endo is not addressing it since I am tapering off the steroids. We will simply wait to see if my body can pick back up where it left off.

The endo is working to identify the cause for my hyperparathyroidism. This has been going on for months and we are closer but not there yet. I am low on vitamin D, apparently that is super common all over the US because fewer and fewer people are going outside in the sun without sunscreen. I now take D supplements to bring that into the normal range. Unfortunately it did not also bring my parathyroid numbers into normal. Next up is to take calcium supplements. That will take 6-12months to show up if that is the cause. If it is not a calcium deficiency then it is most likely a benign tumor. This is when I want a Fast Forward button on my health care because being on this path is like watching frozen molasses drip.