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PMR pain management with medical cannabis

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Oct 23 11:39am | Replies (56)

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@dadcue

Alternate day dosing is often tried so 2.5 mg every other day might be worth a try. I don't know if it will work or not but I know some rheumatologists suggest it. Nobody knows this stuff in advance before trying it to see what works and doesn't work.

If you are on Kevzara, I think there is a good chance alternate day dosing will work. Hopefully you won't have a PMR flare since you are on Kevzara.

My rheumatologist wasn't overly concerned about my cortisol level when I asked. She insisted a slower taper would work and my cortisol level wasn't that important.

When my cortisol level was checked and found to be low, an endocrinologist said it was too low to taper prednisone any lower than 3 mg. She said I shouldn't even attempt to taper any lower than 3 mg until my cortisol level improved.

A morning 8 a.m cortisol level is a routine lab and provides very useful information in my opinion. This is expecially true for people who have taken prednisone for a long time to treat PMR.

How long have you taken prednisone? What was your highest dose and how long were you at that dose?

My case wasn't the norm for PMR. I started with 40 mg and I was still on 30 mg after 5 years. I was forced to taper extremely slowly because there were more things going on besides PMR. However, PMR presents when we are older so many of us have other medical conditions in addition to PMR to contend with.

People with isolated cases of PMR with no other medical conditions are rare! Even when people start with PMR and have no other medical conditions --- prednisone side effects will likely create some additional medical conditions.

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I hope I don't have any other medical issues from prednisone. I probably have osteoporosis again.
I started at 40mg for a couple of weeks until I saw the rheumatologist. She freaked that my PCP put me on such a high dose. She then dropped it to 20mg. I was really only taking 10mgs because I didn't read the bottle that said to take two. I have been on prednisone since February of this year.
You're so knowledgeable about PMR. I really appreciate your response. I had a double spinal fusion in 2022. I still have lower back pain. I will have a trial radiofrequency ablation on Thursday. I have been dealing with pain for almost 4 years. I pray nothing else pops up from the prednisone.