Pain in lower lumber region.

[Jeanjean16]

I was diagnosed with PMR last October, in January I was also told I needed a hip replacement due yo osteoarthritis. I have been reducing steroids gradually and am now down to 10m.g. As the steroids reduce the pain in my lower lumber area and leg has increases considerable.....rheumy said steroids don't have anyt effect on osteoarthritis...has any one else experienced this?

[polkadotcom]

Yes, been down much the same road and once down at 5mg it didn't mask the pain at all. Knowing that the steroids would mask the pain it was very tempting at times to take more - but I resisted! Pred as a painkiller is really not a good idea.

I had a left hip replacement in February last year and it has been brilliant. I am now in the pipeline for a right knee replacement (which is mostly due to OA as a result of old injuries) and am hoping that the result is the same. Because I have now been on 5mg Pred for some time there's no pain masking issues to contend with, so I am back to limping which isn't doing the new hip much good.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Is it just OA or have you maybe got some bursitis in the hip or low back problems affecting the muscles? Something called myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is also often found alongside PMR and it responds to the higher doses of pred but less to lower doses - it is caused by the same inflammatory substances as PMR except in PMR they are "systemic" (all through the body) but in MPS they forms concentrations in muscles and can be felt as hard knots of spasmed muscle fibres - usually in pairs on either side of the spine in the shoulders, about rib level and in the low back where the baby's dimples are. These in turn can irritate nerves to cause referred pain or can make the entire muscle tense and tight and painful.

Quite a few people on the forums have found Bowen therapy helped this sort of problem - there is another thread ongoing there I think. I used Bowen and it helped a lot. I have also had manual mobilisation of the trigger points and steroid injections which worked very well - but you need a physio or a doctor to do that. Bowen you can try for yourself if you can afford it - it's a relaxing as a good massage in my opinion.

[Jeanjean16 in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks for the info, I will look into Bowen therapy.