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PMR - Prednisone and random itching patches of skin
Hi, I am still newish, 3 weeks. PMR diagnosed 2 weeks. I'm 76. On 10 mg prednisone. Mostly working. Tried the divided dose 5/5 and it did NOT work at all. Uncomfortable all day. 10 mg carries me till early evening and then not too bad. I have been getting itching...random...today my biceps, right in AM and left just now. very itchy and if I scratch barely there is some red inflammed looking skin. I put Eucerin on it and it calmed down the first arm this am. Trying that now. Also, wake up in night sometimes with itching in various places...bilateral...ankles or under arms. It this a THING? Back has itched for the amount of time I have had PMR but didn't know it. Mid March 2021. Thanks, Sharon
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I'm on a low dose of Prednisone, and trying to taper without much luck. I am experiencing severe itching, and thought it was from the statin I'm on. Now, after reading this, I am thinking it's either the prednisone or the detox from it. I've been on 5mg and have decreased to 2.5mg. I'm having some minor PMR flare-ups, so I need something else. I'm asking my PCP if LDN would work.
Hi @khbarrat, itchiness can be a result of inflammation. I had it on my torso before I was diagnosed with GCA. Prednisone eliminated it first time around.
I had a relapse of GCA, and on a low dose of prednisone while tapering, I experienced itchiness again, but it passed. It's not painful, but is irritating!
Have you had an ESR or CRP test lately to determine your inflammation levels?
I've had itching for some time and well before I started taking prednisone which has been just a few months.
When I start to itch it seems to start in one place, say my forehead, behind an ear or on one arm or between my shoulder blades, and then it seems to escalate in intensity and within a couple of minutes I itch absolutely everywhere. There's hardly a place on my body that doesn't itch.
From my shins to my scalp and all at the same time. Sometimes even my nipples itch and are painful to the touch. It's like an itching crisis as apposed to a pain crisis. And it feels quite intense and uncomfortable even draining all the energy out me for a few hours.
When my skin itches so much it also becomes really sensitive so that if I draw a line with my fingernail anywhere on my body (arms, chest, stomach, anywhere on my back or on my thighs) within a second or two the line turns red and fades after about five minutes. I think it's called dermatographia (skin writing). I can write my name on my skin when this happens. I've spoken to a dermatologist about it and, although it's a fairly well-known phenomenon, she doesn't have a specific answer as to why it's happening to me.
I saw a pain specialist and asked him about it and he said the only thing he'd suggest is Gabapentin as that would treat not only nerve pain that I have thanks to arthritis but would possibly treat me itching too. As ever, take a new medicine with some potentially difficult side effects rather than find the actual cause.
As I say, I've had this for years so I don't think it's the prednisone.