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Are painful swollen hands and fingers a PMR flare?
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Jul 4 1:54pm | Replies (158)Comment receiving replies
I’m losing all confidence in these doctors who are telling us that this hand and wrist pain is not PMR. We can’t all have just suddenly developed osteoarthritis or some of these other excuses. It has to be a manifestation of the PMR that we all have, and they will never figure out how to address it if they don’t acknowledge it.
Replies to "I’m losing all confidence in these doctors who are telling us that this hand and wrist..."
My Rheumatologist said osteoarthritis when I mentioned it to her but my primary care doctor said it can be a side effect of prednisone that is very common. My Rheumatologist doesn't seem to talk about side effects very often
Here is a helpful reference to osteoarthritis. https://www.arthritis.org/diseases/more-about/osteoarthritis-of-the-hands
It appears that what we are all experiencing is OA symptoms that were previously suppressed by our normal production of cortisol. If we were treated with prednisone for PMR, our adrenals stopped producing cortisol. As we taper off prednisone, our adrenals may be slow to resume cortisol production, and the decreasing prednisone dose is insufficient to control the OA discomfort. This can be expected to continue until we are off the prednisone, and we are producing sufficient cortisol again. If we never resume sufficient cortisol production, you may need to consult an endocrinologist. There are treatments other than prednisone that are preferred in that case. Best of luck on the difficult journey.
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No way it's not related.
We all just developed osteoarthritis in both hands overnight?
Ridiculous