prednisilone

[zilpha]

Hi All...i am totally confused,my husband started 5mg prednisolone , then 10mg,if that doesn't help 15mg.We were inA&E for 7 hours last Sunday,it wasn't a joint that was off scale with pain,it was top front of thigh,they gave him gas & air,then 60ml morphine before they could bring level of pain down,he couldn't weight bear for 48hrs. Then following wed,flare in elbow and thumb,registrar at RA hospital injected joints with steroid. Now it is side of neck,again not a joint,pain is now building,told at hospital on Wed his imflammation levels were high.Has anyone heard of flare not in joints. hope you are all doing well,thanks in advance for reading this. best wishes Zilpha

[earthwitch]

I think that pain in the front of the thigh comes from either the hip joint or the sacroiliac joint. Elbows are really common sites for enthesitis (inflammation where tendon joins onto bone). I have spondyloarthritis rather than RA, and all those pains are very familiar to me. Spondy can cause a lot of problems with really sore spasmy muscle that get irritated from inflammation right on the edges of bones where the muscles and tendons join onto them.. Thats a bit different from RA inflammation which is mostly within the joint. Some of my worse pains are right on the outside edges of bones - like the sides of my knees, or my shins, or the outside edge of my hip bone. Ankylosing spondylitis is one form of spondyloarthritis, and the kind of bone pain that you get with that (or severe spondy in any form) can be as bad as cancer bone pain. If he responds well to the steroids then its definitely inflammatory. I'd be surprised though if he didn't need at least 15 mg for a week or so though. I know I don't get any real response on less than 15, and when I have a short course I usually start at 20 mg for a couple of days, then 15 for a week, then drop down from there. Encourage your husband to keep moving though, even if its very slow. If it is spondy, then inactivity will just make it worse. It can be hard breaking through that horrible pain and stiffness to start though. Also use heat and ice alternating, (or whichever feels most comfortable on its own).

[tessintrouble]

I get pain in my body that does not seem to be in the joints. I had to be taken to hospital when my entire body was hurting. I couldn't walk of raise my arms and I was terrified. That was when i was diagnosed with RA (over 4 years ago). Haven't had a full body flare up since but am in constant pain. Did they check for infection of the blood? I had this too and was on steroids and antibiotics for weeks. I do hope that he gets it under control soon. The pain can be agonizing - I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Tess x

[zilpha]

Thanyou for replys.Prof Emery,at RA hospital thinks Sudays trip to A&E was caused by Femeral

nerve. My husband is still in this pain from high up side of neck pain . Put his steroid up to 10mg from 5mg on Tuesday,will give it 5 days to work ,then up it to 15mg,hope that will work.

Thing is he has a massive operation last July for oesophagus cancer,one month after being diagnosed for RA,he also has a primary cancer in his right kidney,doctors are not concerned with this at moment it is stable and not related to oesophagus cancer, As i am sure you will understand ,with this pain not being in a joint,i think of cancer spreading,but he had a clean scan in April,and his blood imflammation is well over 100. Thanyou all for trying to help.

Best Wishes Zilpha