PMR diagnosis after being treated for neuropathy

Posted by pah17 @pah17, 2 hours ago

Has anyone been tested for neuropathy and treated with Gabapentin with a likely diagnosis of idiopathic small fiber neuropathy and thereafter developed Polymyalgia Rheumatica? I've been on Gabapentin for a couple of years with no real relief from symptoms which is mostly numbness and tingling in the feet and calves. I've been on Prednisone since January for PMR which affected my hips, groin and backs of my legs. I'm slowly tapering. The numbness and tingling gets painful at times and more noticeable during the day. Prior to this once I got moving in the morning, usually I didn't pay much attention.
I'm at 4 mg. Prednisone now and I may be having a flare or adrenal insufficiency. What I wonder is if you've been in this boat, how would you describe the difference in symptoms between SFN and PMR? With PMR I experienced what is often called cement legs and that just seems to have merged with the neuropathy symptoms. I'm tempted to stop the Gabapentin which is only 300 mg at bedtime. Months before the PMR onset, I had tapered down from 300 mg. 3x/day with the intention of stopping, but my nurse practitioner suggested that I might want to stay on one dose at bedtime to possibly help with sleep. I used to think it did help me get back to sleep, but not any more.
I'd just like to get one chemical out of my body

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John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | 1 hour ago

@pah17 I have had idiopathic small fiber PN since my mid 40s but only sought after a diagnosis in 2016 when my PMR (2007 -2010) was in remission. I did take gabapentin for two weeks or so after pushing to see a neurologist and stopped taking after a couple of weeks it because it wasn't helping and my PCP who prescribed it discussed the drug with her cohorts and did say it does nothing for numbness and tingling and only helps for the nerve pain. When my PMR was active the pain felt like it was coming more from my shoulder and hip joints where the neuropathy numbness had nothing to do with the joints and was more about how the skin and muscle tissue felt close to the skin in my legs and feet. My PMR flared again in late 2016 and I went back on prednisone until it went into remission in mid 2018 or so. For me, the PMR pain was noticeably different than my neuropathy numbness without pain.

Have you discussed the pain with your doctor or rheumatologist or asked to see a neurologist to see if it may be neuropathy and not PMR?