← Return to New PMR patient, wondering if mornings will become pain free someday

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@dadcue

I don't know how avid of a golfer you are but you might want to cut back on it a bit. Perhaps you shouldn't be quite as active as you were. Doing so with PMR will likely result in more pain.

Prednisone can make you feel like you can do superhuman things but try not to overdo things. When you take 20 mg of prednisone it replaces the hormone cortisol that your adrenal glands produce.

'The natural hormone cortisol has many functions. The body regulates the amount of cortisol produced and releases it at appropriate times. Too much and not enough cortisol has harmful effects so that is why the body has a mechanism to regulate the amount of cortisol in the bloodstream. The following link explains what cortisol does and how the body regulates it.
https://www.yourhormones.info/hormones/cortisol/
Prednisone replaces the cortisol that your body produces and disrupts many bodily functions. Your body isn't functioning normally when you take prednisone. Your body isn't functioning normally when you have PMR either. Two reasons to take life easier.

We take prednisone for PMR but you will never be able to regulate your prednisone dose in the same way that your body regulates cortisol.

Pain has a "protective function" so we don't harm ourselves. Our bodies weren't designed to be "pain free". When you take prednisone in higher doses it can make you feel better than you are supposed to feel. That doesn't mean people should have to endure PMR pain or any excessive amounts of pain.

Prednisone isn't a good substitute for cortisol. You will learn more about this when you try to taper off prednisone.

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Replies to "I don't know how avid of a golfer you are but you might want to cut..."

Thanks for framing the perspective so well. I'm nine months into this now and know It's like touching something that's too hot and not feeling it like I should when it comes to being so pain free that I can lift an do things surprisingly well where I couldn't before without pain.
Since I have been on Prednisone (10mg@this time), I haven't had any problems with L-4 L-5 pain. That's kinda like a warning light going off telling me that I should remember to stay in the slow lane and keep my seatbelt on. And don't stress my back just cause a have a prednisone band aid. Learning more about cortisol. Thanks