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PMR Dosages and Managing Symptoms
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Jul 27 8:00am | Replies (468)Comment receiving replies
John, I read the articles in the link you posted. Thank you. I'm learning more everyday. Actually this is coming from my... new Rheumatologist. (My apologies, I should have been more specific. I just started seeing him.) He's the one that officially diagnosed PMR, lowered my daily Prednisone dose and put me on what I've come to learn is a tapering dose. 20mg daily this month, 17.5 mg daily next month and 15 mg daily on the third month. I have an appointment before the end of the third month so I guess I'll know more at that time. The pain that had been manageable, is back with a roar. I'm hopeful this will subside with time as it seems to do for many.
Replies to "John, I read the articles in the link you posted. Thank you. I'm learning more everyday...."
@joeblo746 If you have PMR and are not getting enough prednisone your pain will not subside. As the inflammation accumulates it will only get worse and you'll have a flare. I'm fortunate to have a Rheumatologist who knows that my body determines tapering, not some schedule. Three years ago I started on 15 mgs. which worked wonders for me. When I dropped to 12.5 (4-6 weeks later) I experienced some pain, but very manageable. That was three years ago. I still try, but struggle to get below 10 mgs. I was at 7.5 briefly, but had a flare and went back up to 12.5. and have been slowly reducing 12, 11, and now 10 again where I'll stay for awhile and make sure I stabilize. We're all different. Some people are in remission and off prednisone in a few years. For others, they're still battling PMR a decade later. According to Mayo, the average is 5.9 years. Unfortunately many doctors don't know this and think most of us should be fine in a few years.
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The one thing I learned from my rheumy was that you have to listen to your body when you start tapering, slow and easy wins the race when tapering. Took me 3 and half years to taper off the first time I had PMR and the last six months was going back and forth between 1 mg and 1/2 mg until I was finally able to stop taking prednisone and my aches in the morning were minimum and got better as I started to move around.