Bed Matters

I’m 3 months into PMR, taking 20mg of prednisone every morning. I’m waking up around 4:00am with pain in my shoulders. I stay in pain until a couple of hours after I take my morning 20mg around 6:00am. So, I’m thinking the prednisone doesn’t last 24 hours in my body. What are people doing to solve this sleep problem? I’m reluctant to take prednisone at night, with the understanding it causes sleep problems.

@bigpapa19730
My answer is split the dose…..2/3 am and 1/3 pm, or 50/50 maybe
Did not effect my sleep

I tried it, and that helped. I’m using 10mg pills, so it was easy to cut one in half and take 15mg in the morning, and 5 mg around 8:00pm. I’m doctor tells me that sleep is very important for healing. Thanks for your help.

We also bought an expensive bed a Saatva and recently changed to Nectar, which is much much much better for me. I had terrible nights sleep in the
Saatva but the Nectar has multi levels and cooling and I tend to be have much less pain if I sleep flat with a neck roll pillow.

@bigpapa19730
My PCP has prescribed for me both the 5 and 1 mg tablet .
I started at 10mg 10 months ago and now taking 2 mg daily .
I tapered off 1 mg monthly these last 10 months.

This is my 3rd time with PMR . The 3 “ infections “ were all similar.

@lucychristine46

How long did each bout of PMR last?

I have only had one bout of PMR but it lasted 12 years. Technically I still have PMR but I'm off Prednisone.

@dadcue
Prednisone comes in different strenght. It comes in 2.5 mg .
Easy to break the dose through out the day. Hope that helps. Pat

@tweetypie13 yes, this can be very good idea. I found that even splitting by several hours eg 3 hours between the doses gets me more pain free hours in the 24 hour cycle.

@23patk

I should say that PMR is being treated with a biologic instead of Prednisone. I have been off Prednisone for 5 years but I'm still doing a monthly infusion of Actemra (tocilizumab).

@tnnanahjoy
As we travel, I am finding most beds are too soft and I often wind up on the floor, using chair cushions for a mattress. Oddly that seems to reduce morning aches and pains.