PMR and Hip Osteoarthritis

Posted by mona421 @mona421, Feb 12 12:08pm

Hello everyone, I was diagnosed with PMR in August. At the time, my rheumatologist took hip X-rays which showed moderate to severe osteoarthritis but I was asymptomatic. I’m now down to 5mg prednisone and for the past 6 weeks I’ve been experiencing a lot of hip pain as well as pain in the front where the femur meets the pelvis. My recent bloodwork is in normal range for PMR and my rheumatologist suggested that I see an orthopedic doctor as X-rays show osteoarthritis. Thinking I was having a flare up, I even tried taking 20mg prednisone for 5 days to see if it helped but it didn’t. The orthopedic doctor repeated the X-rays and told me I’m bone on bone. Has anyone tried a cortisone shot while on prednisone? Seeing as how I was asymptomatic before PMR, has anyone in this group, who also has hip osteoarthritis, returned to asymptomatic after tapering off prednisone? Not eager to rush into hip replacement surgery.

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mona421 | @mona421 | Feb 12 4:21pm

A correction to my post above, the pain in the front of the hip is in the pubis area, specifically in the crease. I have been going to physical therapy for about four months. It did help in the beginning but for the past six weeks or so, seems to aggravate the pain.

queenie2030 | @queenie2030 | Feb 13 4:39am

I had PMR and was on prednisone when I suddenly had terrible hip pain. It was bone on bone and went on to disintegrate with more and more pain. I had a hip replacement a little over a year ago and it went well and it is very good now. Waiting did not help me but made the surgery even more difficult and resulted in ten days in the hospital after surgery. I did have one steroid injection in the hip prior to surgery which along with the prednisone made me sleepless and so shaky I could not write. The injections sometimes cause new problems.