Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR): Meet others & Share Your Story

Is the alternate day doses of prednisone a good way to go at the lower end coming down from 2 mg what would people suggest 2 mg 1.5 alternate ? Or?

Thank you - my doctor also says ok to stay on 2 or 3 long time - I feel there are skin and hair side effects and just not quite feeling ‘me’ but of course that could be many other things. I have always been reluctant to take long term medecins so partly psychological

Thank you so much!

I went from 2 mg a day to 1 mg a day. I couldn't cut them into halves without crumbling, so after a month or so on 1 mg started eliminating one day a week at a time, say leaving out Wednesday, then a few weeks later leaving out Saturday, etc. util taking just one day a week then stopping compleetely. It worked well.

That’s a great idea!

Yes, 10 mg. per day. It helps but I am still having intense pain in the mornings for several hours. Later in the day things are almost normal.

@heretaunga1947, I forgot to mention the first few times I tried splitting the 1 mg tablets I also crumbled them pretty good until I saw that each tablet had scoring line down the middle. If you place the tablet in the pill splitter with the line directly under the blade it will split with very little crumbling. Still it can be difficult and your tip is a good suggestion if it's a problem to split the pills.

@scpartain - Can you discuss increasing the dosage with your doctor/rheumatologist? From what I've read and my experience with the 2 occurrences of PMR, the standard starting dose of prednisone for PMR is 20 mg. At 20 mg I had zero pain fairly quickly after taking the prednisone. Other members may want to weigh in with their experience also. The pain starts coming back when you start tapering off the drug which is why it's done slowly. Also, each of us are really different when it comes to pain and tapering off of prednisone.

Yes, I plan to discuss it with the rheumatologist on Wednesday May 12 when I have an appointment. I plan to ask that the dosage be increased to a level where the pain is gone, or at least down to an acceptable level. This is not my first bout of PMR. I believe it began in 2008 when I had severe pain in my neck, shoulders, hips, and thighs. I thought at the time that the pain was caused by PMR but couldn't get a definitive diagnoses from the doctors I saw. After about six months the pain gradually left and I wasn't bothered by it until this year when I received the Pfizer vaccine which I believe caused it to flare again.

@ingekunga, A collagen peptide supplement may help with the skin and hair side effects. My wife and I both take a tablespoon mixed with water or any beverage daily. It dissolves easily and is tasteless. It has fixed the brittle fingernails for both of us and is also good for skin, joints and hair. I would discuss it with your doctor first. I was on prednisone for 3-1/2 years the first round with PMR and 1-1/2 years the second time around. I was always concerned with my skin being thin and easily bruised.

Here's some more information:
Daily oral supplementation with collagen peptides combined with vitamins and other bioactive compounds improves skin elasticity and has a beneficial effect on joint and general wellbeing: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0271531717311508