Headaches - Side effect of taking prednisone for PMR?

Hello @rick53, Welcome to Connect. You will notice that we modified your discussion title a little to better describe your question to help members find it and share their experiences with you. I was fortunate to not have headaches while taking prednisone for my 2 occurrences of PMR. Here's some information on the topic:

"What helps prednisone headaches?
Acetaminophen is recommended for headaches when taking prednisone. There is a risk of a moderate interaction between prednisone and ibuprofen. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before taking ibuprofen for a headache if you are taking prednisone."
--- Mixing Tylenol (Acetaminophen) and Prednisone: What You Should Know: https://www.verywellhealth.com/tylenol-and-prednisone-5116894.

There is a related discussion that you might find helpful here:
--- Headaches while tapering: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/headaches-while-tapering/.

Have you mentioned the daily headaches to your doctor?

I too get a headache towards the evening. I’ve only been on pred 15mg for 3 days for PMR, it’s quite annoying. I take Tylenol, but I sure don’t want this every day!

@rick53 Are you accustomed to keeping pain journals ? I have them for my knee , my back, my stenosis in neck (!!!) all through the years - ha ! It's good to know how to describe the pain and the intensity. I've been tracking my PMR pain in shoulders /neck/hips . and i have a separate column where i mention headaches. But unlike you , I,m only having them intermittently. Hope this will get better for you .

Thank you so much for your reply

Thank you so much

I've been on Pred for about a month and I'm planning to talk to my DR. about them. I hope yours don't last long. thankYou for your reply

Thank you

I’m keeping a pain journal. Will mention it to my internist on Friday. However, in my experience of using prednisone for acute bouts of asthma, headache is the norm for me. I can’t imagine 18 months of them!

Same here. The thought of taking Prednisone for 18 mos to 24 is a life time

I get the early onset visual 'scintillating scotoma' of migraines nearly every day but they clear in about 1/2 hour. This started when I started prednisone. My eye doctor says the pred is not the cause but along with a change in my vision and developing cataracts I think he is ill informed.