Connect
Comment receiving replies
I have severe DJD in my lumbar spine too. All the damage to my lumbar spine wasn't revealed until I was on a low dose of prednisone.
First I had pain in the area of my right buttocks. Someone said it was probably my piroformis muscle and related to PMR. That wasn't right because soon thereafter, the pain started to radiate down my right leg. I subsequently had right foot drop and dragged my right leg when I walked. The pain was so excruciating I had to go to the emergency room. An MRI was done which showed I had severe spinal stenosis and the nerves exiting my lumbar spine were compressed.
The pain was relieved when I took Prednisone but the spinal stenosis is still there and isn't getting any better. That sciatic nerve pain definitely wasn't PMR but Prednisone must have masked the pain for many years. I don't know how my lumbar spine got so bad. I told a doctor that I didn't know I had such a bad back. I even asked the doctor if he was sure it was my MRI.
Replies to "I have severe DJD in my lumbar spine too. All the damage to my lumbar spine..."
Connect
@dadcue: My experience was very similar. I was previously active and doing a marathon gardening session last June, when I began experiencing lower back pain with bad sciatica. It did not improve and I ended up getting an MRI which revealed that every single disc in my lower back was herniated and pressing on nerves, as well as central canal stenosis. I had NO pain prior to this, which is not uncommon with osteoarthritis, I am told. A few months later, as part of my workup for PMR, I got shoulder and neck X-rays, again revealing severe OA. My rheumatogist says that prednisone can help with OA pain, but not dramatically. I am now on 17.5 mg, down from 40, and feelings lots of pain, both in shoulders/neck area and sciatica. I believe my tapering schedule will be determined more from labs than pain at this point. Labs have been at the high end of “normal” and going up as I have been tapering. I am not optimistic about getting off prednisone anytime soon.