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Are painful swollen hands and fingers a PMR flare?
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: 3 hours ago | Replies (150)Comment receiving replies
What did you think about the 1300 mg of Tylenol eliminating pain and swelling ?
As to “pseudo gout” when my Rheumy prescribed it, he said “rule out gout” but Pharmacist all but backed me up against a wall with “are you aware how dangerous this drug is”? He scared me and I took it a few days and stopped.
But what i wanted you to share with @bunnybear is the explanation you gave of how you have to give your body a chance to catch up and produce cortisol when you reduce the cortisol being provided by Prednisone. I’m sure I butchered that explanation.
Anyway - good to hear from you.
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Giving her adrenals a chance to produce cortisol depends on why she was put on a "maintenance dose of prednisone." An endocrinologist would do this if it was likely that her adrenals won't restart or won't produce enough cortisol again. If she has "permanent adrenal insufficiency" taking a maintenance dose of a corticosteroid is how that is treated.
She might not need Prednisone for PMR anymore. She might still need prednisone if she has adrenal insufficiency. I'm afraid rheumatologists "give up" sometimes when people can't taper off prednisone. It seems strange to me but people are willing to take Prednisone for the rest of their life If it relieves their symptoms of adrenal insufficiency --- their quality of life might be better. I don't know if that is the best outcome overall.
I had to stay on 3 mg without tapering for 6 months before my adrenals increased their production of cortisol. It might take someone else less time or more time. There is no way to predict how long it might take. One year is frequently the time frame that is given. If it doesn't happen in a year, it might be considered permanent ... I don't know.
My quality of life got better when I got off Prednisone. Fortunately, my adrenals weren't permanently suppressed.
Tylenol doesn't treat inflammation and swelling. It is not an NSAID. Tylenol can ease mild-to-moderate pain and bring down a fever. Unlike NSAIDs, it does not treat inflammation and swelling. Probably just a coincidence that the swelling went away but tylenol might have relieved the pain. Whatever happened - it was a good thing.