Morning misery: Is prednisone effective 24 hrs? PMR and hands

Oh yes PMR does affect the hands! Five months into diagnosis and down to 6 mg of prednisone, my arms from the elbow down to the wrists and hands are the only parts of me that hurt for a couple of hours each morning. I am still able to use my hands, but grappling with that bra hook makes me swear. An hour or so after taking prednisone and Tylenol, I can actually feel the discomfort in my hands easing.

Thanks for this-my doctor keeps telling me PMR does not usually affect your hands. I am on 12.5 mg and it takes 4 hours before there is any relief.

I’m new to the group and had a tough time getting moving in the morning - my Rumey split my current dose of 6.5MG to 4.5 with breakfast, 2mg with dinner. Mornings are much improved

When I first started on prednisone it felt like it didn't last the full 24 hours. I was stiff until noon each day until I started splitting my dose 30 mg am and 5 mg pm. This made a big difference for me. Now eight months later I have presently tapered down to 12 mg all of which I take in the morning and have no need to split off any of my prednisone. I know a lot of people say that splitting shouldn't be done but my specialist was ok with it and told me to listen to my body. Also It didn't do much to my sleeping as I wasn't sleeping much any way. Now that I am on a lower dose I finally am able to fall asleep and get my 8 hours .

Welcome @fjn, @papas and others - You might find the following discussion helpful.

--- PMR Dosages and Managing Symptoms: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/pmr-dosages/

Mornings are hard especially if it's going to storm. Hands hurt and shoulders-husband runs messager over shoulders and I moved my 2 mg of Predisone to the morning. Warn drink helps, too.

So sorry you have to wait such a long time each day to feel better. I find that if I get up early enough and take prednisone and then go back to bed, I am able to sleep another two hours on top of the 8-10 I have already had! By that time most of the stiffness has diminished,. The down side of that is half my day is gone. I don't know if it's the PMR or prednisone that zonks me out but I am able to nap these days at the drop of a hat after a lifetime of high energy. I have learned so much about PMR from this forum, especially about tapering prednisone. My general practitioner wanted me to taper down 5mg at time, so you might want to find a rheumatologist and go in armed with the information you find from folks on this forum who have actually experienced it. Take care.

since pmr happens in the 'older' group of people there is a significant overlap of osteoarthritis with its morning stiffness

I had terrible pain in my hands from PMR. I also have GCA. When I started taking the high dosage of prednisone (40 mg for GCA) the pain in my hands and morning stiffness disappaeared.

I always have neck, shoulder, back, hip and thigh pain every morning for about 3 hours until the prednisone kicks in. I take it at the same time every morning, I have been on 15 mg for about 3-4 weeks now and it is not improving, I started on 60mg 3 months ago and now down to 15, I don't want to go back up on it so trying to deal with it.