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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 did not have hand pain early in my PMR treatment. That was five months ago at 30-40 mg pred. As I tapered down, the hand pain (no swelling) appeared. My rheumy didn’t have much to say, but the orthopedist I just saw felt it was “inflammatory” rather than OA. He said that pain across the first (large) set of knuckles is usually from an inflammatory process, but if the pain was in the smaller two sets of joints along the fingers, it would most likely be due to OA. Does this make sense to anybody? I have also had cramping (spasms) in my fingers and thumb at times, and wrist pain.
Replies to "I did not have hand pain early in my PMR treatment. That was five months ago..."
The most distal joint (the DIP joint) is virtually always osteo. I would challenge that the middle joint is usually osteo. But I do agree that the most common hand joints to be involved are the knuckles.
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I still get hand spasms (cramping) that are painful. I have been off Prednisone for 3 years and my rheumatologist thinks PMR is in remission.
Otherwise, I would agree that my hand stiffness was caused by inflammation during PMR. I still have osteoarthritis because my rheumatologist says I have osteoarthritis in my hands and everywhere else they look.
I have also been diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis in addition to PMR. These two conditions aren't mutually exclusive. These two conditions aggravate each other.