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PMR Taper and pain

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: May 30 12:19pm | Replies (63)

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@johnbishop

Hi @begonia77, Welcome to Connect. It sounds like you are doing great with the tapering schedule. I started at 20 mg for both of my occurrences of PMR but never had to split my dose due to more pain at night. There are others who have discussed splitting the dose in the following discussions that might have some suggestions for you.

--- Splitting the dose: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/splitting-the-dose/
--- Divided dose or all at once?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/divided-dose-or-all-at-once/

Do you keep a daily log of your pain level when you get up and your dosage for the day? How long have you been on prednisone?

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Replies to "Hi @begonia77, Welcome to Connect. It sounds like you are doing great with the tapering schedule...."

Thanks John! I started on Pred last April 15mg was not enough so it was 20mg to start that worked. My PMR started very suddenly/very bad a few days after a cortisone injection into my inflamed knee. It was odd.
I had to split my dose from the beginning mainly because if I took it all in the morning I had pain for 3-4 hours before the pred "kicked in". Taking half before bedtime worked. But now that I am at such a low dose, I still have the same problem and wonder if my last taper at 1 mg or half mg will work best taken at night. I guess it may be different for different people. I am amazed that at such a low dose I can still be in pain---although it moves around. last week for the first time it was my hand and wrist worse than my shoulders.