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Weaning off of prednisone & pain management
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Oct 25 10:23am | Replies (156)Comment receiving replies
Tapering now at 2.5, and based on the experience of another contributor, I tried and seem to be getting substantial relief from residual (non-PMR) lower back and shoulder pain from Tart Cherry capsules, an anti-oxidant. No theory on whether this is incidental, correlational, or cause and effect.
With the exception of an NSAID taken twice with Prilosec and with the doc’s permission, I have not tried any other remedies, so trying this or another anti-oxidant might be significant. Check with your doc. Good luck.
Replies to "Tapering now at 2.5, and based on the experience of another contributor, I tried and seem..."
Now I'm interested in Tart Cherry capsules. I have residual (non-PMR) lower back pain but I'm told that I need a lumbar fusion for that.
I'm off prednisone and on Actemra which works infinitely better for me. My rheumatologist is able to consider other causes of pain since I no longer take prednisone. When investigating why I had uric acid kidney stones, a rather high uric acid blood level was discovered. My rheumatologist thought that maybe gout was "contributing to my residual pain." My uric acid level was treated for a while but I said I didn't feel any different. The treatment for gout was stopped even though my kidney stones all but disappeared. My rheumatologist deferred to a urologist who subsequently said my uric acid level "probably" should be treated by my GP.
My uric acid level is rather high again but it isn't being treated. Maybe I should take Tart Cherry just to see what happens. They sound delicious. I love cherry pie but maybe I should stick with the capsules!
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Fresh cherries are the only fruit I eat, for about a month a year while they're on my tree. I pick and eat them liberally without caring about carbohydrate/sugar content, the only exception to my low carb diet. Both sweet and tart cherries are said to be good for inflammation - that'll do me as a reason for hopping right into them, delicious with lots of plain yoghurt too. I can't say if they help with pain because last cherry season I had no pain at 7-8mg of prednisone anyway. If something is said to be good for us, I'd rather eat the natural food than take a supplement, but there are limitations to availability with seasonal foods of course.