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PMR questions about prednisone, surgery limitations, pain and more
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Feb 27, 2023 | Replies (34)Comment receiving replies
Hi @redboat, Welcome to Connect. You might find the following discussion helpful:
--- PMR Dosages and Managing Symptoms: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/pmr-dosages/.
Prednisone is definitely the magic pill to make the PMR pain go away for most of us. One of the problems is that it sometimes takes a higher dose of prednisone to relieve the pain symptoms and their are quite a few conditions that mimic PMR --- Polymyalgia rheumatica: Look before you leap: https://bpac.org.nz/bpj/2013/june/polymyalgia-rheumatica.aspx.
If you are not already doing it, you might want to consider keeping a daily log with your level of pain and dosage of prednisone. The daily log can help you when you are tapering off of prednisone so that you can minimize flare ups.
Has your doctor discussed a tapering plan with prednisone?
Replies to "Hi @redboat, Welcome to Connect. You might find the following discussion helpful: --- PMR Dosages and..."
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Hi @johnbishop. Thanks very much for your comments. The "PMR Dosages and Managing Symptoms" is a helpful discussion. My rheumatologist, who I saw for the first time 3 days ago, did mention tapering. However, it seems she is waiting for blood test results ("rheumatologic serologic tests") before taking any action on changing my prednisone dosage. After a week on prednisone (first two days at 10 mg, then 20 mg/day) I am still experiencing soreness and fatigue, although it is much diminished from before I started prednisone. So the question for me right now is if should we INCREASE the dose until the pain and fatigue actually go away. I understand there are serious side effects, and minimizing the total exposure to prednisone is important. Thanks again.