GLP-1 Drugs Effects on PMR

I am on Kevzara and 3mg of prednisone a day. I start Mounjaro tomorrow and will report any problems or benefits.

@dadcue

Hi Mike,
Do you live in New Jersey. If so, I would love to know you endocrinologist. You have a very rare one for sure.

My PCP is the one treating me for polymyalgia. The day I started prednisone. He also started me on peptide. He had been after me to try a weight loss drug because I am overweight and I was not willing to try. The reason he really wanted me to do it now is to help the side effects of hunger on prednisone. I won’t say that the appetite helped with the inflammation. I think the prednisone took care of that and got rid of my pain but being on tide and now on Zepbound itself I have lost 15 pounds instead of gaining with the prednisone and hunger. It has been frustrating seeing other friends go on Zepbound and lose weight much faster than I have, but dealing with the pain in the fatigue it has been hard to stay focused and keep on a regular exercise program. I am now a little over a year out from starting prednisone at 60 mg and I’m now down to five. Taping once a month now at .5 mg on the taper.

I really should have read through my post before posting. I was initially on Terzepitide.

I was diagnosed with PMR 2years prior to starting Wegovy for weight loss. After about 8 weeks I noticed clear reduction in Symptoms.

I started Zepbound 6 weeks ago
I noticed less overall inflammation the next morning! Still tapering down on prednisone, at 3.5mg
Had to cut my lisinopril in half. Will be getting my 3 month panel done next week and see my rheumatologist in 2 weeks. Hoping my CRP and ESR are within normal range. Would love to get off all meds.

I will see my endo in a couple of weeks after returning from a Get out of the Heat vacation. Our plans are to start me on Zepbound. I have been seeing her every 90 days find April 2019 because of my adverse reaction to a drug. She has been on this journey with me the entire way. She recently suggested Zepbound during a conversation we had. I am all for it now after doing my research. I should start by mid-September.

This is a summary of what my research taught me -
Researchers have reported reductions in inflammatory markers such as:

C-reactive protein (CRP or hs-CRP)
Interleukin-6 (IL-6) (this is a big player in PMR/GCA)
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) (this is a big player in PMR/GCA)

What is less clear is how much of the anti-inflammatory effect comes from the drug itself versus the significant weight loss it causes. Current evidence suggests both mechanisms may contribute.

I am also taking doxycycline only for its anti-inflammatory effect. It addresses MMP inflammation, the other big player in the PMR/CGA inflammatory loop.

Still on steroids as well.

Wish me success, please!

Great research. Thanks for posting. Good luck to you. I look forward to hearing how the GLP-1 worked out for you especially on the inflammation caused by PMR. You and many others might find it is a new effective treatment for the disease.

I started Zepbound 10 months ago. First for weight loss. But, immediate change in 2 things. Less stiffness and better movement of shoulder and hip and knees bilaterally. Then my CPAP events per hour went down to 2 or 3 over 7 hours!! Now on what I call a maintenance dose of 2.5mg Zepbound after a 45 pound weight loss and CPAP events per hour a still good. Also on 2mg per day of prednisone and Actemra inj weekly. I am maintaining well and am able to do and join most things I want to. I’m 78 and I don’t plan on changing much but I do also do the arthritis Tylenol 2 times a day. May try to lose my final 10 pounds of weight to reach my goal but overall as long as I have this condition I’ll stay this course unless they find a permanent solution to our PMR. ☺️r

@randersonccc eight

I'm curious about the sequence of events. Was your extra 45 pounds of weight caused by Prednisone? Did the extra weight lead to obstructive sleep apnea and needing CPAP?

Was Actemra started before Zepbound so that you could begin to decrease your Prednisone dose down to 2 mg. Was Zepbound started by an endocrinologist to treat Prednisone side effects or did your a rheumatologist start Zepbound to decrease inflammation?

It sounds like you are going in the right direction. I'm just curious about how you were able to turn things around. What steps came first, second, third, etc. which allowed you to go in a different direction?