Has anyone experienced dizziness with medication for PMR?

It hasn't happened to me, but my understanding is that dizziness is a common symptom of adrenal insufficiency that can happen while a person is tapering prednisone.

I had quite severe dizzyness and brain fog on immunosuppressive meds, both Prednisone and Hydroxychloroquine. It appeared to be dose dependant, as I slowly reduced the dose the dizzyness reduced. When I tried increasing the HCQ it got much worse when I decreased the dose it was better.
Now that I'm off both drugs I'm not dizzy anymore but still unsteady due to the muscle weakness. The dizzyness could also be related to the level of inflammation as this was reducing at the same time I was withdrawing off the meds. It's a tricky balancing act managing auto immune disease.

Thank you so very much for your reply!!! I appreciate your response very very much and it was extremely helpful for me!!! I was told by my rheumatologist to stop the methotrexate and I also stopped the hydroxychloroquine both of which I was on. Basically neither medication even help me it made me feel very very sick weak and dizzy. Last week I ended up in the ER and so so many doctors and most of them have no idea how this medication can affect someone. Right now I’m going to many doctors and hopefully someone will figure out how I could feel better. When you went off your medication how long did it take for your dizziness and weakness to start disappearing? I ended up in the ER because I felt so so terrible and unfortunately most people have no idea what to do for me! Many other test came out very very good but I think they still have no idea what really to do it kind of at a loss a lot of these doctors. Again I appreciate so so much to reply it’s making me feel a lot better thank you so so much!!! I am very very best wishes to you going forward!!!

It took a few months of reducing medication doses to overcome the dizzyness. Another confounding factor for me was gluten in my diet. During the time that I was decreasing Prednisone and HCQ, my son and grandson were diagnosed with celiac disease and I knew that was the root cause of my autoimmune disease. I went all out to completely eliminate gluten from my diet. I'm certain this had a profound effect on the level of inflammation in my body and helped me get off the meds. The health of the gut has a major influence on autoimmune disease and its a field where Doctors generally have little knowledge. You cannot get a diagnosis of celiac if you have been on immunosuppresents or have gone on GF diet. You literally have to figure it out for yourself. The only way to do this is by following strict celiac protocols for at least 3- 6 months (its hard) and documenting the observed changes. I have a nursing background, do extensive research and was able to read my body and symptoms. This mayo forum has been incredibly helpful in my journey over the past 2 years.

I had dizziness with prednisone around 10mg or so. It usually hit me right after coffee so I gave up coffee. Dizziness mostly gone. Now I drink peppermint tea. I'll try coffee again after prednisone is done. B

In November 2023 I was diagnosed with GCA and polymyalgia rheumatica. Eight months of prednisone therapy was in store for me. As of June 2024, I have been off of prednisone. I still have polymyalgia pain that varies from day to day controllable with over-the-counter pain meds now. Throughout this whole journey I have had dizziness and equilibrium problems that have been reported to the rheumatologist. At first I thought it was a side effect of the medicine but now I know better…equilibrium and balance issues continue to come and go especially on days with high pain levels of PMR. I have also followed anti-inflammatory diet. At this time over-the-counter painkillers are the only thing that I take for the PMR. Wish I knew what is causing the dizziness and balance issues. Still a mystery for me.

I have GCA and have suffered dizziness - I know that prednisone is part of it but didn’t explain the persistent dizziness. I lost the vision in my right eye from the GCA. Recently I saw a neuro optometrist. He suspects that the GCA not only damaged my right eye, but also my right ear. I haven’t noticed a loss of hearing but perhaps the part of the ear involved in balance was damaged. So it seems my left (good eye) is not working properly in conjunction with my right ear, which might be a cause of the dizziness. He referred my to a neuro-ent.

I had some dizziness and asked my doctor if it was due to tapering. She said probably not, just to drink more water. That did seem to help

I can relate very very well to your situation with your dizziness!!! I have been off methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine for three weeks now and I still have dizziness which is really really no fun!!! so far I have been to the ER and a few doctors and no one can really figure out why I am dizzy. I really believe for me it has something to do with the medication’s that I was on. my rheumatologist told me to get off the methotrexate and I also got off the hydroxychloroquine as neither one was helping my PMR. How long were you off your medication‘s before your dizziness started to get better. I would highly appreciate any information that you can give me!!! thank you very much!!! my very best wishes to you!!!