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Can a biologic trigger PRM?
Hi I’m Paul. New to all of this. Trying to figure it out. I’ve been on Dupixent for a few years, which is a biologic to treat chronic eczema. My rheumatologist thinks it’s a possibility that this medicine, while turning down one part of my immune system, another may have been ramped up triggering PMR. Has anyone heard anything like this? If it’s the case, I’ll take eczema any day over this!
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There have been case reports of Dupixent (dupilumab) triggering inflammatory arthritis.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38011313/
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I think the general answer to your question is YES ... biologics can trigger other inflammatory diseases.
Whether or not Dupixent specifically can trigger PMR specifically is probably unknown.
It is an interesting question. Autoimmune disorders are associated with an imbalance of cytokines which are signaling proteins that regulate immune responses and inflammation. I know that cytokines function like a network of messengers and there is "crosstalk" and upstream and downstream regulation of various cytokines. Changing the level of one cytokine influences the levels of others .
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1 ReactionPaul,
I first got PMR symptoms after taking Dupixent for roughly six months. I continued taking Dupixent for another year, then discussed it with my dermatologist and she and I agreed that I should stop Dupixent.
I've been off Dupixent for about 1.5 years now, and I still have PMR pain and stiffness.
The PMR pain/stiffness is improving slowly, but I just think it's following its typical course and not because I stopped Dupixent.
The eczema isn't so bad however, and it has been manageable with topicals.
I'm not sure if Dupixent was the original trigger for my PMR, but PMR didn't magically resolve once I stopped it.
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2 ReactionsMy PMR was triggered by the Covid shot. Going on 3 years and I’m down to 3mg of prednisone 200 mg of hydroxychloraquin. Hope to be off prednisone by end of year 🤞🏻- PMR once triggers a long process to get over. I hope the medical professionals can do better and use treatments that have been tested longer and consider off label uses for some drugs. I have no family history of PMR RA
I had Covid and flu vaccines on Oct 30, 2024 and developed PMR a month later. I’ve had Covid boosters and flu shots every year since the pandemic with no side effects. It didn’t occur to me until I joined this group that these vaccines could be the culprit.
Yes. My support group has discovered similar findings and now it is not recommended that I have any vaccine that contains the ingredients similar to what was in the Covid shot. I don’t think they have accurately collected all the data related to these shots but once they do it’s going to be shocking. I now research everything closely and weight the risks. It takes years to find out what these new drugs are really doing. At least here in the US. I’m thankful when I have a better day than other days but am hoping the PMR burns itself out.
I meant to say that I’m recommended not to have any vaccine that has similar ingredients as the Covid shot. ☺️
Covid shots were being given so often (every 6 months), it seems like it might be difficult to determine causality and not just a temporal relationship. I am not willing to jump to conclusions that say there is a cause and effect relationship until scientists can document a higher incidence of PMR since the development and administration of Covid vaccine.
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1 ReactionI had a very interesting reaction to the Covid virus. All of my PMR symptoms vanished while I was sick with the virus. I read on this forum that others had the same experience. I wish the medical experts would try to figure that out.
Same here. And virus seemed to last only a few days. I did not get vax this yr.
Based on my case being triggered by an adverse reaction to a vaccination, others reporting their experiences and knowing there is no known cause, please understand no one knows answers to questions like yours. PMR is a default diagnosis, no test exists that confirms PMR. Primary treatment is prednosone, a naughty drug. A naughty problem.
I have spent years separating PMR pain and symptoms from other causes and getting doctors to treat most of the "other" stuff. It has kept my steroid consumption down, but an exhausting journey. I finally self diagnosed my urinary incontinence due to PMR inflammation. No doctor figured it out, I did. I had sudden onset, etc. I believe in Western medicine, however I also believe many doctors are not able to look at the patient as a single working interrelated set of symptoms. Too much specialized medicine.