PMR - How will I know I am in remission?

perhaps you should ask your rheumy doc. u might need to go up a little in dosage.... when i went down to 1mg i had intense pain. now on 5mg no pain and will try again every 2 wks to taper. I feel ur pain..;-)
D

Hello @loresathome, I would like to add my welcome along with @ddmo and others. You will notice that we added a little to your discussion title to better describe what the discussion is about. My PMR is currently in remission since 2018. I've had two prior occurrences of PMR. When I went into remission just meant that I was no longer feeling the pain symptoms and no longer taking prednisone. Tapering slowing is key but each of us are different when it comes to our pain levels. I think you might find the following discussion helpful:

-- Prednisone tapering is challenging. What does remission feel like?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/prednisone-tapering-and-remission/
Some members have found splitting their dose each day into a morning and afternoon/evening reduced the early morning pain some. I kept a daily log of the dose I took and my pain level when I woke up on a 1 to 10 scale. If it was time on my schedule to taper and my pain level was above a 2, I either stayed on the dose for a few more days or bumped it up half of my previous taper.

Do you keep a daily log of your dose and pain level?

an important message from my Rheumy is There is no Timeline... just b patient when tapering...everyone reacts differently... i went from 5 to 1 and had to go back to 5... I am a patient who's patient lol hope u r 2
D

After reading a lot about tapering off Prednisone I'm curious how one knows if they still have PMR or not. A couple of months after being diagnosed, my inflammatory markers were normal but when I tried to taper off Pred I had a return of symptoms and had to start taking it again.

Hi @christi48, You will notice that we moved your post to an existing discussion on the same topic started by @loresathome here:

-- PMR - How will I know I am in remission?:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/pmr-8/
I think the answer to the question may be a little different for each of us with PMR with a common thread of the pain being pretty much gone. When tapering off of prednisone, my rheumy told me to listen to my body and taper slowly. @ddmo and @loresathome may also have some thoughts on the question.

I am not sure if PMR completely goes away or just goes into remission. What have the rest of you been told??

My understanding is once you’ve been diagnosed with PMR you will always have it but it does go into remission and can flare at a later time. I’ve had 2 occurrences 6 years apart and it has been in remission for 4 years now.

Thanks, John. I have had another condition called episcleritis in my eyes since the early 1990's. The eye specialist told me the same thing-I will always have it and it can go in and out of remission. It has done that several times. The main medication for that was prednisone drops and Ibuprofen because of the inflammation in eyes.

Thank you for your reply. Any ideas about what causes a flare after years of remission?

That's the 64 thousand dollar question (sorry for the TV show reference 🙃). I'm hoping it's partially due to lifestyle. I've really tried to eat healthier with less sugar and inflammatory foods and also get more exercise. Lots of good info here:
-- Can Diet Affect Symptoms of Polymyalgia Rheumatica?:
https://www.healthline.com/health/polymyalgia-rheumatica-diet