Forearm pain

[David_H]

Hi all, I'm still on 2.5 mg Pred a day so not doing too bad. My neck and thigh pain pretty good now but struggling with pain in elbow joint and forearms (mainly right arm; yes, right handed). Thought arm pain should be restricted to upper arms? Any thoughts? Ta

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hi David_H,

Good to hear you're down to 2.5mg, but a little concerned that you say neck and thigh pain 'pretty good'. Does that mean you are not pain free, and if so, at what level were you pain free. Maybe you are not taking quite enough Pred - sure you don't want to hear that, but there's no point taking it, if it's not controlling the pain.

The elbow and forearm pain could indicate that you are not at a high enough level, but you must also remember than as you get lower on Pred the "normal" aches and pains of life return. As it's only in right arm, that's a bit usual for PMR as it's usually unilateral - although not always! Have you done anything that could have cause problems in your arm? Could be something quite innocuous that pre PMR you wouldn't have thought about.

[David_H in reply to DorsetLady]

Thanks for quick reply DorsetLady. I should have said very good rather than pretty good. Quite happy about neck and thighs. The pain is in both arms but felt more in right probably because I'm right handed. Cant think of anything in particular I've done. As an example if I have my arm bent to shave in the morning it's quite painful when straightned

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to David_H]

Yes know what you mean - not the shaving obviously! But I was spray painting something in the garden earlier in the week, and next day my arm ached like mad.

The problem is I think, we are apt to forget that our muscles have been weakened by both the PMR and the Pred, so we don't always realise that the silliest thing can affect their normal recovery.

Plus, as we get to low doses we expect everything to be back to normal - and it isn't as easy as that, some experts reckon it takes a year after coming off Pred for our bodies to be okay.

Just keep on eye on things, and it might be an idea to stay on 2.5mg for a while longer and see if things settle down - after all it is a very low dose - no point in rushing things now.

[David_H]

think you could be right there. I have tried to get back to normal activities of late so maybe that's it. Thanks for your help

[PMRpro Ambassador]

At the start of PMR I had what turned out to be tenosynovitis which led to pain from the outer aspect of my elbow, diagonally across to the inside aspect of my wrist. I also had hand pain with PMR. It was thought to be RSI (which apparently now doesn't exist...) and it was definitely worse with using my hands for typing. I did find a wrist support helped but it did eventually fade with a high enough dose of pred (after having it for 5 years with no pred). Now a flare always starts with pain in my wrists.