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PMR Taper and pain

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: May 30 12:19pm | Replies (63)

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@raven1955

Hi lowell77,

Just giving my opinion from personal experience. I always first look at what I've been doing over the past 3-4 days. Is there something that I've done that could have caused the stiffness and aches in the wrists/shoulders? One time I was ready to increase my dose until I remembered about helping load and unload some furniture from a pickup truck. I did minimal lifting but it was awkward. I gave myself a couple more days and sure enough, the symptoms were gone. Personally, if I can't find something that I've done that's causing the pain and aches, then I'm looking at increasing my dose to the previous level that was effective. Sometimes a dose might be just a hair low to be effective but it takes a couple weeks for the inflammation to accumulate and make itself known through the pain and discomfort. I don't like to give the pain a head start - I try to catch it early so I don't have to go to a much higher dose so it'll get under control again.

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Replies to "Hi lowell77, Just giving my opinion from personal experience. I always first look at what I've..."

@raven1955. I’m into my second month of having tapered completely off prednisone. I fully expected to experience some discomfort and stiffness because prednisone had masked those symptoms for so long . I also evaluate if something I’ve lifted or if I’ve stretched too much could account for my stiffness and discomfort. I ask myself ‘is this a flare?’ If the pain does not get worse, but gradually subsides, I know it’s a part of the process of PMR symptoms leaving my body. I read on this site that symptoms could persist for a few months, but that gradually they will subside after tapering off prednisone and so far that has been my experience. I’m very gradually getting back to ‘me’ and compared to the pain and stiffness I experienced in the beginning, this is something I can endure.