I also have major hand issues and wish the connection between the hands and PMR could be better explained. My rheumatologist considers my hand issue as rheumatoid or inflammatory arthritis. He put me on hydroxychloroquine and it has helped, but the hands are still an issue, especially in the mornings. He thinks the hydroxychloroquine will also help with the tapering of prednisone. I just tapered to 6.5 mg of prednisone and am tapering by .5 mg every two weeks. So far that is working well for me.
Best of luck to your husband.

I can't explain the hand issues with PMR either. I just wanted to say that I had hand issues too. My issues were more prevalent during my years with PMR. I had some minor hand issues when I was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis some 20 years before PMR was diagnosed. My favorite explanation was that my problems with my hands were caused by a combination of inflammatory arthritis and PMR.

I used to tell my rheumatologist that my hands were like a barometer for how widespread the systemic inflammation was. My hands would get very stiff and sore when disease activity was the most active. I would wake up every morning and the very first thing I would check was how easily I could open and close my hands.

I had other problems with trigger fingers not to mention a spontaneous tendon rupture. The hand surgeon couldn't explain why the tendon connecting my thumb ruptured spontaneously.

I was diagnosed with "diffuse" peripheral neuropathy but the EMG/NCS focused more on my legs. They asked if they could check my arms in addition to my legs. I said yes and they said the peripheral neuropathy was in my arms too even though I wasn't symptomatic there.

The other problem I had was the feeling that my hands were freezing. This wouldn't happen all the time but it was strange how cold they felt sometimes in the summer. I would blow into my hands trying to warm them up like it was winter and freezing outside. My hands were always warm though but they felt like they were on the verge of frost bite,

I just think autoimmune problems and hands are linked somehow. It might be prednisone related because I'm off prednisone now and my hands aren't causing me any problems now. I'm still being treated for a deranged immune system but currently I'm taking a biologic and I'm off prednisone. I don't have the hand problems anymore like I used to.

Hello @ctjpmarie, @sharonanng, and @dadcue. You will notice that we moved the discussion started by @ctjpmarie to an existing discussion on the same topic and changed the title a little to better describe the discussion . Click the link to go to the top of the discussion and read what @kim555, @pkalkstein and @scpartain have shared.

-- PMR and Hand issues: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/hands-and-pain/