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Off Prednisone but still feeling new type of pain
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: 1 day ago | Replies (60)Comment receiving replies
@abbeyc
Symptoms started Jan 2023, diagnosis April 2023. Prednisone of course. Could not get below 8mg. Dr started me on Kevzara April 2025. Self tapered off prednisone by 7/15/2025.
Today 5 months off Prednisone and have not gone back, no reason to.
Today 19 Kevzara shot, 41 wks on Kevzara, taking it every 3 wks.
“Suddenly” is a hard question. I go thru moments of improvement. As I said, those moments become longer , and the next stage is “an another step up in improvement “.
Have a wonderful holiday and great NEW YEAR, I plan to.
Replies to "@abbeyc Symptoms started Jan 2023, diagnosis April 2023. Prednisone of course. Could not get below 8mg...."
@tweetypie13
You had a good doctor getting you so quickly on Kevzara.
Is PMR in remission? For how long will you stay on Kevzara?
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@tweetypie13
I'm jealous you started Kevzara relatively soon. I was on Prednisone for 12 years before a biologic was tried. A faster taper off prednisone was "suddenly" possible but it still took me approximately a year to taper off prednisone.
At one stage I was tapering at a rate of 1 mg per week until I reached 3 mg. At 3 mg of prednisone I was instructed to stay on 3 mg for 6 months while I waited for my cortisol level to improve.
PMR improved rapidly but it was my cortisol level that didn't suddenly improve. Even after I discontinued prednisone I had "moments of improvements" followed by not so good moments. My overall health improved and trended up but it waxed and waned for another 2-3 years after Prednisone was discontinued. After I was off Prednisone for 5 years it seemed like my health might be as good as it gets.
I started my biologic on January 1st, 2019 so the NEW YEAR has a special meaning to me. New Year Day of 2019 ushered in a dramatic improvement in my quality of life. Every year since then has shown steady improvements but I still have an occasional bump in the road on my PMR journey. I still get new types of pain that surface but PMR is still in remission. I have never had a complete relapse of PMR which was a characteristic when I took Prednisone.