Could it be sciatica

[bowler]

I am having a flare of GCA. on 35mgs Pred. I'm also having some back pain [ top of the buttocks both sides ] which I thought was a flare of PMR. However in the past on a dose of [35mgs] that would have got the GCA/PMR under control within a day or so, but the pain in my back persists, luckily my head is better, so its another slow taper.

As Im getting older I'm getting these flares more frequently, I feel I'm on a roller coaster, and there doesn't seem to be an end to them. I'm sitting with a hot water bottle on my back which is helping, as I'm reluctant to take painkillers.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I've posted several times that this sort of problem can be due to myofascial pain syndrome - back muscles spasm and trap nerves leading to referred pain. Physio or massage can mobilise the trigger points or cortisone injections can also work wonders. It is commonly found alongside PMR - the trigger points which tend to be in pairs on either side of the spine, in the shoulders, mid back and lower back, are concentrations of the same cytokines that cause the stiffness and pain in PMR where they are all over in your tissues and blood.

[bowler in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you PMRpro

As soon as I read your "myofascial pain syndrome" I do remember you mentioning it before in answer to someone else.

I'm feeling a bit low in myself due to several other health issues. I'm going to Addenbrooks hospital on Fri. [ my second home !] to see a dermatologist, I have a "dodgy" mole/keratosis ? on my face. I am also awaiting another trip to Addenbrooks re a gall stone, and what with this last flare of GCA and the back pain, I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself. I didn't do myself any favours today by pushing a spermarket trolley!!!!! but I just felt like getting out of the house for a break.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to bowler]

Now if there was one thing that guaranteed a bad back for me it was a supermarket trolley! I detest the big ones because I'm too small to reach into the bottom. The small ones you find in the UK are not too bad but here they have baskets on wheels - so you still have to reach down to the bottom, almost to the floor, to empty them onto the transport band. Or worse still - lift the darn thing! And carrying even a small basket was not on. Luckily I hate shopping...

[kingharold11]

Hi I have had sciatica for about 2 months. It keeps moving, first I had it in my left buttock and thigh, it then moved into the front of my right thigh and groin which the phisio I am seeing said was muscle strain from trying to walk with sciatica in my left side. All of that cleared up and miraculously I could walk reasonbly well when this Monday pain appeared in my right buttock again. The pain is on a scale of 1-10 I would put at 9. I saw the phisio yesterday and I am seeing him again today He is brilliant and gets me walking within minutes yesterday my daughter had to take me into the hospital to the phisio in a wheelchair, couldn't walk myself in too much pain. Trouble is when I came home I was so knackered I had to lie down so of course when I got up again I had to start again the pain killers only work to an extent but if you don't take any the pain starts raging.