← Return to Prednisone for life?
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Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Jun 21 9:45pm | Replies (18)
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Replies to "@dadcue I am always interested, but I was confused and I have this question for you...."
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@loriesco
A limited amount of research has shown that an interleukin-6 (IL-6) inhibitor such as Actemra (tocilizumab) to be a promising alternative for treating crystal-induced arthritides, such as gout and pseudogout (CPPD). Gout and pseudogout are different types of inflammatory arthritis.
This is a better link that discusses this.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40550451/
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I have gout since my uric acid level was high. The kidney stone that I passed was also composed of uric acid crystals. The problem with diagnosing me with gout was because I was taking prednisone for PMR. Because prednisone is the primary treatment for PMR, it probably suppressed my immune system's inflammatory response to the uric acid crystals in my joints.
I have a complicated medical history which includes inflammatory arthritis which was diagnosed when I was 32 year old. Now I am 72 years old. I have listed some of my medical problems during the past 40 years in my profile. You can see what is listed by clicking on @dadcue
I agree ... it is all very confusing to me too. I have been on Actemra (tocilizumab) for 7 years. After PMR was diagnosed, I took prednisone daily for 12 years with little hope of ever being able to taper off prednisone. I haven't needed any Prednisone for 5 years. I'm doing much better being off Prednisone and on Actemra.
Gout was diagnosed recently after I tapered off prednisone. The speculation was that prednisone masked my symptoms of gout.