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Is progress being made in understanding PMR/GCA?
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Sep 22 2:50am | Replies (22)Comment receiving replies
My symptoms are all consistent with PMR. Ditto for inflammation markers. My pain and other symptoms were alleviated within 3 hours of my first dose of Prednisone and I continued to feel great with no breakthrough pain until I reached a certain point in attempts to taper off Prednisone. So, to my way of thinking, in the unlikely event that I don't really have PMR and have some other unspecified disease instead....what difference does it make?
My eyes have been horribly bloody and red rimmed since shortly after starting Prednisone. My vision is getting worse all the time. I've been to three ophthalmologists and none of them knew what to do about it. One thought it was blepharitis. Trust me, as a nurse of 40+ years, it was not blepharitis. Now both eyes are sore and painful. I have another appointment with another ophthalmologist Thursday.
I'm down to 5 mg a day in my latest attempt to taper and honestly, am starting to think it's not worth it. I feel awful---exhausted and sleepy all the time and my pain and stiffness almost as bad as pre-Prednisone. Any of you who have tapered all the way to zero, is this normal? Is there some point where the exhaustion and pain goes away? I had a little pain at 7 mg but 6 kicked my booty and 5 is even worse. I'm wondering if being on Prednisone is the lesser of two evils?
Replies to "My symptoms are all consistent with PMR. Ditto for inflammation markers. My pain and other symptoms..."
@hopeinal That sounds miserable. I was always advised by my rheumatologists to go back up to the last Prednisone dose that kept me pain free if I had a flare while tapering. I tapered down from 60 mg/day to 0 mg/day over a period of 6 months, but was given plenty of leeway to alter the schedule and dosage as needed, based on the pain I was experiencing.
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"Trust me, as a nurse of 40+ years, it was not blepharitis. Now both eyes are sore and painful."
Are your eyes sensitive to light? Do you see floaters? Is your vision getting foggy?
I had uveitis. My symptoms progressed rapidly in a matter of a day or two until I couldn't see with one eye. Uveitis can affect both eyes at once. My uveitis had an acute onset but there is a chronic type of uveitis. too.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK540993/#:~:text=Uveitis%20is%20a%20disease%20process,pain%20to%20complete%20vision%20loss.
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Uveitis is associated with inflammatory arthritis more than PMR. I think uveitis can happen with any inflammatory disorder when our immune system becomes deranged. You can also have more than one inflammatory disorder.