Can Polymyalgia affect other medications I am taking?

@maryhannon3, Sorry to hear that you were diagnosed with PMR and now your other medications don't seem to be working for your spinal stenosis pain. Have you talked to your doctor or pharmacist about a possible interaction between the prednisone and your other medications?

Of course, I don’t know if it can affect other meds, but I am surprised that your initial dose of prednisone was only 5 mg. Most people who are diagnosed with PMR are put on an initial dose of anywhere from 15 to 30 mg to start off with and then wean down over a period of 1 to 2 years. So I’m wondering if five is really enough to control the pain from PMR. Just a thought.

I have the same back issues you have. I was diagnosed with PMR 4 years ago. I was started out at 20mg a day. I am just now down to 2 mg. Day. My back was wonderful at the high doses. I would think the prednisone would help your back. I take Celebrex and gabapentin for my back. I am not in the medical field. This is just my experience.

My rheumatologist put me on 15mg prednisone when my initial blood work came back showing elevated inflammation markers. It didn't do much if anything. Once the rest of the blood work came back and I was diagnosed with PMR, I was bumped up to 25mg prednisone. Are you being treated by your PCP or rheumatologist? Is your care being coordinated with the doctor treating your back issues?

@joihnbishop Yes I plan to I have followup appointments with my doctors.
Thank you.

@voll Yes from what I am reading 5mg is low. I am calling doctor today to report still so much pain in so many places.
Thank you.

@kjoed53 This diagnosis is only 2 weeks old. To be continued.
Thank you.

@maryhannon3
I'm sorry to hear about your PMR diagnosis but very glad you found this support group. I also have chronic pain (many years), from neck, back pain. Stenosis, bulging discs, fusions in neck and also scoliosis (curvature of spine). I just got diagnosed 7/31/26. I'm on pain meds for my chronic pain but they do absolutely nothing for PMR pain. I don't know as I'm not a DR but I don't think Prednisone would stop your pain meds from working. What I do know is that my PMR pain was absolutely brutal!!! A Prednisone dose of 5mg is not going to stop your PMR pain nor symptoms if the experience of myself and others here are any indication. I was started at 15mg, had to go up to 20mg, then 25mg to get complete resolution of the PMR pain/symptoms. I'm just tapering the past month and now at 17.5mg. If you don't have a Rheumatologist yet, I hope you can try to find one. PCPs aren't usually as knowledgeable about PMR, Prednisone and all things related.
PMR pain and symptoms can vary greatly from person to person so it's possible that what you're feeling is related to the PMR if your pain meds were working before the PMR started. PMR doesn't just show up in only the "upper back girdle" or "hip girdle " areas. It can show up in many areas for different people. May you get the help and relief you need very soon. Blessings.

Yes you are right on. 5mg not enough. I have a call into PCP. I was just diagnosed 2 weeks ago. I agree I do need a specialist. To be continued. Thank you.

I wish you the best in your journey to find a good rheumatologist, that is so important.
I was started on 8 mg. Prednisolone by my rheumatologist, along with an injection to treat my initial pain in January, ‘26. The injection helped for the day or two, but the daily dose of 8 mg wasn’t enough, and I told him so at my next appointment two weeks later. He bumped it to 12 mg, for two weeks.
I have osteopenia so there was the worry my bones would be damaged further by taking steroids.
That worry was justified, as I had a bilateral insufficiency fracture of my sacrum a few months after my initial diagnosis, which I’m still recovering from now in October. This is a serious illness!
Find out as much as you can about PMR , and as soon as you can. Wishing you all the best. This forum is so helpful, and the people on here are so willing to share their experiences and insights.