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Newly diagnosed and confused about the goal
I am newly diagnosed PMR by my primary doctor. My symptoms started slowly with stiffness and pain in my hamstring area of my left leg only. Over a 3 month period of time the stiffness, pain, and feeling like the muscle would just snap in 2 spread to both legs and lower buttocks area, then to both hip girdle area. My doctor thought I might have sciatica and sent me to PT and an X-ray. X-ray showed L5. l4 area usual arthritic changes in a 73 year old body. PT made me feel better overall physically, but did nothing for the pain. Doctor then did blood work which showed protein reactive score of 17. Put me on 15 mg of prednisone. I have only been on it for 9 days. Some ever so slight improvement in morning pain, it doesn’t last quite as long as before medication, but still uncomfortable. If the leg pain is better the hip pain seems worse.
Is the goal of the prednisone to eliminate the pain or just lessen it? How long should I wait before saying although better the pain isn’t all that much better. I am not sure how to measure this. I am happy for any level of pain relief but was hoping for something better than what I am currently experiencing. I am expecting too much too soon?
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@cj762 Mornings were the worst for me. Once I got up and moving around, the pain improved.
@kjoed53 so sorry to hear this. Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Appreciate your kindness in answering my original post. Support is so important.
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1 Reaction@cj762 I'd also like to say welcome, this is a great, knowledgeable and supportive group. I can totally relate to the hamstring-buttock tendons feeling like they might snap. With my kinesiologist I have been working with that area by lying on the floor, feet elevated on a chair with a slight bend in the knees, raise hips and dig feet into the chair to activate that area isometrically.
One thing that has helped me in the mornings is doing some Progressive Muscle Relaxation while lying in bed, prior to getting up, to get the blood flowing in all the sore areas. Best wishes and big hugs to you.
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2 Reactions@kjoed53
Hoping all goes smoothly for you. Best wishes.
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1 ReactionI was diagnosed with PMR about 7 months ago. In my opinion the pain level depends on dosage of predisone. According to my Rumilogist stiffness and pain should only last about 15 minutes in morning and rest of day relatively pain free. Sounds like dosage to low.
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1 ReactionIronically my PMR started in my right hamstring after an 8 mile hike, that felt fine. Like many I attributed it to over doing it for my age. Not so, it was the start of my PMR. Anyway, I’m with the person who thinks your initial dosage might be too low. I started at 20 mg not 15. That did the trick. Talk to your doctor about bumping up your dose. If we have to take prednisone we might as well be pain free while doing it. Keep us posted. Best to you!
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1 Reaction@franklinlala my dr upped it to 25 gms. That has helped significantly but not quite gone in the AM . Feel so much better.
Bilateral pain and elevated inflammatory markers seem to be the hallmark of PMR with bilateral pain in upper arms and shoulders and thighs, groin and hips. All good below elbows and knees. My deltoid muscles ache a bit at night but otherwise 10 mg works for me. 12.5 down to ten in three months. Hang in there.
@cj762 I split my dose which took care of the morning sorenesss
@tweetypie13 did you split it half and half or like 20 am and 5 pm? Did you do that on your own or did the Dr. suggest? This is all so new to me that I am afraid to monkey around with things without consulting with my Dr. first. I have split my exercises into morning and evening. Stretching especially twice a day seems to help me. I just am so freaked out by one day the pain is in one spot and the next day it is somewhere else. Makes me wonder if it is the nature of the beast or did I make myself worse by doing the exercise. Just glad that at the moment I am feeling so much better. Thanks for your reply