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What steroid dosage did you start on? Did you find the right dosage?
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Apr 5 5:38pm | Replies (154)Comment receiving replies
The amount of Prednisone that I am reading about here is so much more than I've gotten. I started at 4 a day and tapered to 2. My pain is bad. My doctor never suggested going higher. I was diagnosed in September and have had very little relief.
Replies to "The amount of Prednisone that I am reading about here is so much more than I've..."
My pain was in my upper legs and upper arms and shoulders started in June 2021- It hurt to move.
I was prescribed 20 mg of Prednisone- the pain started easing 4 hours after the first pill. I have gradually reduced the dosage since Mid June 2021 and as of March 2022 I am down to 1/2 mg 3 times a week.
Take the reduction very slowly
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Hello @patzmar, Welcome to Connect. My Mayo Clinic rheumatologist who diagnosed my PMR started me at 20 mg prednisone. If you have PMR I think the starting dose of prednisone is usually between 12.5 and 25 mg according to the latest recommendations. Here's some information that discusses the topic:
"The mainstay of treatment of PMR is oral prednisone therapy.29 According to the latest EULAR/ACR guidelines, prednisone therapy should be within the range of 12.5 to 25 mg, using the minimum effective dosage to achieve remission. Tapering should be individualized once remission is achieved.30
In a randomized controlled trial, Kyle and Hazleman31 found that oral prednisone 20 mg/day led to fewer flares than 10 mg/day. The study was limited by small sample size, but this dosage has been noted anecdotally to bring good symptom relief. On the other hand, Kremers et al,32 in a retrospective study, found that higher initial corticosteroid doses and faster tapering were significant predictors of future relapse."
--- Polymyalgia rheumatica: An updated review: https://www.ccjm.org/content/87/9/549
An older recommendation from 2011 has the following: "The only controlled study suggests that initial prednisone doses ≤ 10 mg is associated with high incidence of recurrences, whereas doses ≥ 20 mg are associated with considerable side effects [3]. " --- The correct prednisone starting dose in polymyalgia rheumatica is related to body weight but not to disease severity: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3114801/
Have you been diagnosed with PMR or is the prednisone for another condition? Also, if the starting dose is not getting rid of the pain, I think you might want to contact your doctor and make sure they know that it's not working for you.