Sharp pain in hands on certain movements. PMR-related?

Posted by amvp @amvp, Jan 22 7:57am

I saw a chiropractor on Friday, as for some months I have woken up with bilateral stiffness and pain in my shoulders and hips and, since last week, I have also woken up with pain in my neck. The chiropractor suspects I have PMR. She recommended that I see my GP. I saw my GP today and will get blood results tomorrow and a prescription for steroids if necessary. As well as the symptoms that point pretty clearly to PMR, I get hand pain. Years ago I had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands and the pain is similar but in a different location. It is in the “salt cellar” of both hands and the stabbing pain occurs on certain movements. These are hard to identify and also hard to describe but, one example is the stretching that happens between the thumb and other fingers when lifting a toddler. Any comments on whether this sounds PMR-related would be helpful. Thank you.

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@johnbishop

Welcome @jiffaw, PMR can definitely turn your life upside down even if you are not an active person. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle with anti-inflammatory foods and exercise definitely help as long as you don't overdo the exercise part. I was started at 20 mg prednisone for both my occurrences of PMR and it pretty much took care of all of my pain within a few hours until the next morning's dose. I also have carpal tunnel that hasn't gotten a lot better over the years but it's not bad enough to consider surgery. I have had a cortizone shot a few years ago which helped.

Have you discussed the possibility of the carpal tunnel being a separate issue from the PMR with your doctor or rheumatologist? Or maybe even bumping up the initial dose of prednisone since the average starting dose is 15 to 25 mg prednisone and we are all different.

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I have definitely considered everything in your last paragraph, I have read medical journals stating that in some people PMR first manifested in the hands and wrists presenting as carpal tunnel. My GP internist doubted it and knows nothing about PMR really. So glad I’ll be seeing a rheumatologist next Monday.

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