How to address PMR pain while decreasing prednisone
I have been diagnosed w poly myalgia rheumatica (pmr). Am taking 5 mg of predisone, was taking 10mg.
Every time I go on a low dose, symptoms come back. I can’t take pain meds, but do drink wine to ease pain, although I’m told no alcohol w prednisone. Anything you can share as far as info
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Sally, I have had PMR since July 2017. Started on Prednisone 20 mg right away and reduced each month by 2.5 until I got to 10mg and started reducing by 1mg per month. This is a slow taper and recommended for me by Mayo.
How is this working for you @alanbruce ? did you have any pair reoccur?
so far all is well. I try to get lots of exercise, have my blood checked regularly and go to my rheumatologist at least quartely. i also go to a dietician to help watch my weight and blood sugar.
You sound just like me in the morning. I toss & turn all night (very painful & difficult) and when I get out of bed I almost have to crawl to the bathroom ! Wondering if I should see my orthopedist? I have osteoarthritis in my left hip (MRI showed) but he wasn’t concerned – this was about a year ago. I just wonder if my condition has deteriorated. I have been weaned down to 1 mg of prednisone and I take a 200 mg tablet of ibuprofen as well once a day just to settle my pain so I can struggle through yoga class. Been thinking about a bike. I also have a follow up appt. with RA on Tuesday – I’m assuming she’ll want to up my steroid dosage (to 5 mg) but I desperately want to stay off steroids. I guess I’m in denial that it really is the only cure for PMR : (
Also, there is so much negative news coming out about taking calcium. Even my RA said to reduce my dose there – I stopped altogether. So, I would say I’m in limbo due to fear of drug side effects. Trying very hard to keep that positive “vibe” going … but, sometimes, it’s very hard.
Lioness here I have PMR and fibro A while ago my shoulder pain,shooting pain,nerve pain down arms into hands I went on more Magnesium ,Fibro Malic was the one It stopped my pain into the arms,hands.We need more Magnesium then normal people. I’ve done a lot of research in the fibromyalgia group.Check out some fibro groups online
Fibromyalgia NewLife Outlook is a good group
Lioness, I take magnesium supplements also – two 200 mg tablets in the morning and two in the evening, 800 mg daily. In addition to the magnesium, I take two 5,000 IU capsules of D3 which helps with calcium absorption.
That’s about what I take but also MSM as it’s important I’m told,it’s good to know what helps ,so good forum
Hi Sally my name is Roland & have had PMR since last March yes the pain is bad. Now I also started on 20 mg of prednisone per day. I am down to 7.5 mg/day. Now be very careful in tapering off the pred. John will tell you that tapering off this stuff is tricky. My Dr. told me that the patient knows best because we are the ones dealing with the pain. I would not tapper off the pred. more then 1 mg/month as your body will not produce any of the steroid you body needs because we are tricking our body by taking a synthetic drug that our body normally produces. So we are advised to take it slowly if not your pain will be back trust me. Good luck.
Thank you for your input Roland. Are you finding 7.5mg per day is enough to keep the pain away? I will definitely speak to my Dr. as I feel she is trying to taper off too quickly.
Well Sally there are no 2 bodies alike. I function very well on 7.5 mg now I still notice some discomfort in my shoulders & finger joints but it is nothing that I can’t tolerate. I just go to the gym & work my discomforts out now that works for me. At the beginning of Feb. I will attempt to drop 1 more mg of pred. will see how that works it may or may not. This PMR is a strange autoimmune disease & no-one can put there finger on it even the best in our medical field. So like my Dr. told me only the patient knows how he or she feels & when to cut back, but cut back slowly to fast & it may trigger the PMR to return not that it can’t or won’t.