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Successfully treated for Polymyalgia Rheumatica
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Nov 9, 2023 | Replies (101)Comment receiving replies
Hello @mach92, welcome to Connect. Thank you for sharing your story. You are so right about prednisone. It is the magic bullet for polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). My first diagnosis of PMR was in 2007 and I was put on 20 mg of prednisone. Within hours of taking the first tablet the pain was pretty much gone. It took me three years to taper off of prednisone. The last six months was going back and forth between 1 mg and 1/2 mg dosage until I was finally able to get off in 2010. The PMR reared it's ugly head again in March 2016 and I was back on 20 mgs of prednisone. I'm now at 5 mgs and trying to taper down by 1 mg a month but will have to see how it goes. It does have it's side affects but I think staying active like you do helps. I ride a recumbent exercise bike 4 to 5 mornings a week for 30 minutes but have trouble doing much else due to my peripheral neuropathy and the numbness in my feet.
Wishing you luck on tapering off the prednisone and hoping your PMR goes into remission.
John
Replies to "Hello @mach92, welcome to Connect. Thank you for sharing your story. You are so right about..."
Well yes this is my approach to the matter okay in the afternoon but come evening & of course the next morning I hurt. So as I said I take 10mg in the AM & 10mg in the PM then skip a day as the Dr. told me to do. I am still not sure about skipping a day it may be okay & maybe not. Will let you know
Well here it is May 11 odd day so no prednisone today. This morning my pain is almost non existence is it because I took half of my prednisone last night? I sure hope so but lets see how I feel this evening. I have a full day ahead of me working for our local PD.
That's great news! I'm going to try it today with 2.5 this morning and 2.5 tonight to see if works for me also. John
Hi John as you probably read on another response to mach2 I am doing very good at least for the last 10 days. I was in bad shape on May 15 made an emergency to the Dr. on that day, As you remember me saying that he had me on 20mg every other day well he changed that to 10 in the morning & 10 in the evening everyday now that helped me 95% also along with taking oxy. for 2 days to help with the pain. Now I go see the Dr. on Wed. 31 & I guess he will start weeing me off at a very slow pace This he sure been a learning process for me. The funny thing about it is the same dose but taking it a the proper time.
I am back with my normal activities with no problems.
That is really good news Roland. This PMR stuff can be a real pain (no pun intended!). I have been on 5 mg going on 3 weeks but had to add 1 mg Monday and Tuesday because I was starting to ache a little more than normal. I went back to 5 mg this morning so will have to see how it goes the rest of the day.
Hope you have a great day!
John
Yes this is good news for me especially when I can go back to my normal daily activities. Now comes nest week & start coming off the pred. Now that might be a different story lets hope it is easy. Will let you know. What I'm worried about is the 1 mg here & there. Another learning process I suppose. Take care with your playing around with your med.
Well here it is June 1 still feeling pretty good yesterday they started cutting me back on my pred. 10 mg in the AM & 5 mg in the evening. Will see how that goes. On occasions I notice the aches in my shoulders but nothing close to what I had experienced. Will keep you informed on how the new dose of pred. is working out. Having to fly to FL today for a funeral will be back on the 7th.
Sure is hard staying regulated with the pred. when traveling I mean the time change that we have to go through. Still on 10 in the AM & 5 in the PM. it is still working as it should. Still getting some pain in my shoulders but I can cope with that very easily without increasing my dose. I am being patient with my PMR knowing that it takes a good while to go away.
Hi Roland, it's good to hear that you are keeping it under control. The up and downs of PMR can be a daily challenge sometimes. I'm back to 6 mg from 5 due to some extra shoulder and arm pain the past few weeks. Hoping to start tapering the dosage again next week but it is like you say a challenge. John
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I have some 2.5 mg prednisone tablets left from a previous script so I may give your approach a try. Normally taking the 5 mg in the morning I feel OK during the day but start feeling a little stiffness/pain in the evening so this approach may help. Thanks for the information!
John