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I am newly diagnosed with PMR. Right now I am on prednisone 15 mg daily until my inflammatory numbers come down, then I can start to taper. The prednisone helps my pain but there is a few hours in the day that the pain is worse until I take the prednisone at breakfast time.
I read prednisone stays in your system 16.5-22 hours. If you split your dose, does that help control the pain closer to 24 hours? I take my prednisone in the am with breakfast and I am usually quite painful. After the dose kicks in a few hours later I do better with the pain. I think I need to ask a pharmacist this question. If I take 10 mg with breakfast and 5 mg four hours later will that help my pain in the am when I first get up by staggering the dose a little bit?
This dx is overwhelming. Not only because if the muscle and joint pain but there are many other things that can go along with this.
Thankyou for any info. I think I will ask a pharmacist my question above to see what they say.
Replies to "I am newly diagnosed with PMR. Right now I am on prednisone 15 mg daily until..."
Most have no problem taking prednisone every 24 hours. Your metabolism may be the culprit, using it up faster than most. I struggled with the same issue until I split my dose, taking morning and evening. It made a huge difference for me but then I got to deal with it messing with my sleep. After years on a split dose I was very apprehensive about going back to a single dose as my reduction schedule brought my dose down into the single numbers. Fortunately that was never an issue.
Treating PMR is a bit like shooting at a moving target - it's always changing. Once you have an understanding what it takes to control your initial issues, you'll have a starting point for listening to your body and figuring out what the next step is. It's a slow trip but you'll get there. Just don't let anyone put you on a fast reduction schedule for prednisone. Have seen too many train wrecks because people were told to get off prednisone quickly. Pred is our only friend in this fight.
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Hello @mnmom1, Welcome to Connect. Several members have mentioned splitting their prednisone dosage to help with the pain. I've had PMR twice and never tried splitting the dose but I also started at 20 mg for both occurrences and tapered slowly using the pain in the morning as my guide to tapering. My rheumatologist had me keep a daily log of my pain level in the morning and the dosage of prednisone. I made some changes my second time around with PMR which I think made it a little easier to get off of the prednisone and handle the inflammation. Here's some information on things that might help:
-- Polymyalgia rheumatica diet: Foods to eat and avoid:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321683
It can be overwhelming when first diagnosed. My doctor was always asking if I had pain in my scalp or temple area as they were concerned about Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) which some people have along with the PMR and it's much more serious. It also requires a higher dose of prednisone. I don't think it hurts to try splitting the dose between morning and late afternoon or evening. If the pain doesn't improve, it would give you more to discuss with your doctor.
Do you keep a daily log of your pain and prednisone dosage?