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I’ve just been diagnosed with oesteo arthritis in knees hips hands and neck …it came up very suddenly everywhere rending me almost incapacitated…I stopped the methotrexate because I thought it was causing this new misery and have felt better in so far as not nauseous and less pain …this was after X-rays revealed the extent of the OA …I’m still on 1 mg of
prednisone,sulfasalazine ,hydroxychloroquine and bi weekly injections of Actemra ….im trying to stop the prednisone by switching to every other day but after a week I’m finding sleep difficult because of leg pains so am going back to daily in hopes it improves …its interesting to me to hear of others who suddenly got full body arthritic pains as it scared me wondering what other disease I had now …I’m adding Tylenol now for pain but the swelling in knees ankles and hands continues …I can’t tell now what’s PMR and what’s OA …sounds like others have had this scare so I’ll just have to adapt and hope for the best .
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I was able to get off Prednisone after Actemra was tried. I hope it also works for you.
I had advanced arthritis in my knees at the age of 25. The arthritis in my knees was caused by sports injuries and knee surgeries. I can't really remember when my knees didn't hurt so I was used to that pain.
At the age of 35, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune inflammatory arthritis called "reactive arthritis." I had a genetic predisposition for this type of arthritis that was triggered by an infection. Reactive arthritis is associated with another autoimmune condition called "uveitis." Reactive arthritis would mostly attack my spine. Uveitis was more serious and caused eye inflammation which can lead to vision loss. My ophthalmologist sometimes prescribed 100 mg of prednisone for uveitis.
PMR was a late addition to the inflammatory mess I was in at the age of 52. I wouldn't say I had full body arthritic pain suddenly after PMR was diagnosed. I can't remember when I didn't have arthritic pain because that started when I was 15 years old.
What happened suddenly were the flares of inflammatory arthritis. The pain was unbearable. The sudden onset of severe pain would happen in a matter of a day or two. As for uveitis, those flares happened suddenly and worsened within hours when my vision in one eye would become so foggy that I would be able to see my hand in front of my face. My ophthalmologist said my uveitis was "aggressive." Fortunately I never needed an appointment to be seen by my ophthalmologist. I would just call to report a flare of uveitis and they would create time for me.
I took massive doses of Prednisone before PMR was diagnosed. However, I never needed to take prednisone on a "long term" basis. I would usually take 60 - 100 mg of Prednisone to start but I could always do a fast taper and be off Prednisone again in a month or two for the flares of uveitis and reactive arthritis.
PMR didn't happen suddenly and progressed more slowly. A diagnosis wasn't easy to make because of my long standing history of inflammatory arthritis. PMR was a blessing to me because I was told to take prednisone every day for at least a year. The curse was when I wouldn't be able to taper off Prednisone again until 12 years later.
I think when PMR gets diagnosed, prednisone has a way of making you forget that you ever had arthritis. My rheumatologist stopped looking for arthritis and assumed it was everywhere. The pain caused by PMR and arthritis had a way of blending together and it became "generalized pain."
My rheumatologist at first said I had PMR in addition to reactive arthritis. Over time she said I had "systemic inflamation" or a "wide range of inflammatory conditions." After 12 years of PMR, my main medical problem was called "chronic prednisone use."
I was given a new lease on life after Actemra was started because I'm currently off prednisone. Prednisone relieved the pain but also did some serious harm to me. The sooner you can get off Prednisone the better off you will be. Prednisone relieved my pain but it didn't solve the problem. Prednisone also created additional "prednisone related" problems.