Heavy pain five weeks after hip replacement and prednisalone

[Alice70]

First I would like to those who answered me as my surgen is off for amonth been intouch with specialist hip nurse sent her pictures and had xray she assured me nothing serious wrong and sad it could be tendonitis or brusitis ,also been in touch with rheaumatiod nurse as I want to come of prednisalone, I have been up and down on prednisalone for past twenty months between 5mgs and 20 mgs,although icome down from 20mgs I've stayed on 5mgs through out so my body is used to5mgs through out the 20 months ,rheaumy nurse said we will discuss it when I see her in 2 months time ,how do others drop 5mgs after 20month curious to know

[KittyJ]

probably not what you want to hear but I would wait to discuss it at your appointment with the nurse and they can advise you how to taper. You really don’t want to be adding RA pain or any other problems to the pain you’re having with your hip if you do it now without their guidance. Two months isn’t long and it’s a low dose so why not wait 😊

[Alice70 in reply to KittyJ]

Makes sence

[Fruitandnutcase]

I agree with Kitty J, why not wait just now, a couple of months more probably won’t make all that much difference and you will have a proper plan. When I was started on prednisone I was given a step by step plan for how to stop them. I was only on them for three months and I dropped the dose by a certain amount every two weeks until I ran out of pills.

Interesting you mention tendinitis or bursitis - I know bursitis showed up on an MRI I had a few years ago and it kicks in every now and again - well last week my I was talking about the bursitis pain last week with my Pilates teacher who is a physiotherapist and has seen my scan report mentioned that it could quite easily be tendinitis.

So its interesting that you’ve been told that and I’ve been told that. Whatever it is it’s a really unpleasant sort of pain. I don’t know about you but once I’m up and moving it improves a bit - until I go to bed and lie on it again. Good luck with stopping the prednisalone.

[Alice70 in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Pain a little better thank you ,I hope I'm turning a corner,I surpose I had better wait for nurses adivice about prednisalone

[Creakywrists in reply to Alice70]

Glad to hear your pain is a little better and wish you well.

[Alice70 in reply to Creakywrists]

Same to you

[Lolabridge]

Please get medical advice on how to taper off Prednisolone - really slowly is usually very important! Discuss and agree a plan with your rheumatoid nurse when you see her in two months time and stay on your current dose until then.

[Alice70 in reply to Lolabridge]

Sensible to wait untill I see nurse just can't wait to get of them

[Runrig01]

I would definitely wait till you see the nurse. I’ve been on prednisolone for 12yrs, and was slowly tapering 6yrs ago with supervision. I was losing a lot of weight, feeling nauseous, lightheaded and lowBP etc. My gp wrongly thought it was an ENT issue. It turned out my own body wasn’t producing cortisol, only discovered unfortunately, when I had a severe stroke as a result of it. My levels should have been higher than 450, mine was undetectable, and couldn’t even stimulate my adrenals to produce cortisol. As I result I have severe adrenal insufficiency, which impacts every function in your body, and any stress, good or bad, or any infection, can trigger a crisis. So it’s essential that your taper slowly. I was doing what they called, the dead slow nearly stop approach, where it took 7 weeks to drop 1mg. Unfortunately Drs rarely warn patients about the risk pf adrenal insufficiency, It’s likely whilst you have bursitis or tendonitis you need the current dose. The body makes the equivalent of 3-5mg prednisolone for the bodies daily functions, so you are at the dose your relying on your adrenals waking up, to deal with hbe extra stresses on your body. Hope your hip settles soon 🤗

[Alice70 in reply to Runrig01]

Thank you Rungrig for this info,wish you well

[Angels54]

Hi , I have been on steroids for years , got down to 5 mg but going for steroid injection, hoping to keep down to 5 mg , however, the pain can be so bad ,good luck👍

[Alice70 in reply to Angels54]

Thank you Angels , I can honestly say I hate steriod they do help with pain ,I can't sleep on them also wreck my stomach

[oldtimer2]

Coming off prednisolone is difficult and takes time as you know.

I've tried several times to reduce when I get to 5mg, very slowly, but once I I try, it just sends my body off on its merry way of pain, fatigue and flare up of symptoms - and joint swelling. I was advised a few years ago that I probably needed that dose (4-5mg) becasue of the length of time I've had to use steroids...unfortunately I was not eligible for biologics until NICE changed their recommendations to include those 'moderately' affected.

Make sure that you keep your bone strength up with exercise, Vit D and enough calcium. Keep an eye on your diet, weight and check for diabetes. I've managed to avoid most of the long-term effects despite my advanced age...!

[Alice70 in reply to oldtimer2]

Thank you oldtimer ,I take notice of what you have said