sore throat and losing voice

[denny-g]

Have had another flare and have been put on 60mg for 1 week 50 mg 1week 40 mg 1week and 35 mg 1week .Now on my 6th day of 60mg and have been losing my voice and getting a sore throat.Has anbody had a similar experience as it is not a cold i am experiencing.

[bowler]

When I have been on a high dose of Pred. I always get a hoarse voice, but it's not sore, often people ask me if i have a cold.

[Hidden]

at 50 mg I was on for one month I had funny sensation my throat was swelling. It felt like the area of where post nasal drip happens felt tight n swollen. I would lie down an start snoring before a minute and I was fully awake.

At 20 mgs it mostly went away. My friends ask where did I get the deep sexy voice🙀. One fun thing thru all this.

Lin

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It CAN be a symptoms of GCA affecting the neck arteries - although on 60mg it should be improving not developing you would have thought.

What I would be more concerned about is the possibility of acid reflux due to the high dose of pred - do discuss it with your doctor asap. I'm assuming you were given either ranitidine/Zantac or a PPI (omeprazole or the like)? Maybe you need a higher dose. If it is the first time you have been on a PPI - they don't work in 1 in 3 patients so you may need something else.

[Joyful13]

I have had a sore throat and sometimes lose my voice for hours or even a whole day. These symptoms have been occurring for weeks. I had a throat culture done yesterday for strep throat which came back negative. I am currently taking prednisone 5.5mg, and Actemra infusion monthly for GCA.

[Deb61 in reply to Joyful13]

HI Joyful 13,

I had a very sore throat and was very raspy and lost it as well. I think it was from the GCA but then once I went if the high dose of prednisone it was bad too and found out it was thrush from the prednisone and then I had to take medication for that. It took a long time for that to go away. But once the thrush went away my voice was normal. You can get thrush from steroids so maybe that is the problem. What is the Actemra as I have never heard of it which really means nothing as I am still in the process of learning about the GCA.

[Joyful13 in reply to Deb61]

Hi Deb61,

Thanks for your reply. I had severe thrush in my mouth and cheeks months ago when I was on Prednisone 40mg. It was terrible. I was also taking Methotrexate at that time. It took several months of taking multiple meds., RX mouthwashes, aloe vera juice, etc. to get rid of the infection. I also had mouth ulcers where I was biting the inside of my cheeks while I was sleeping. I had severe "moon face" at the time.

Actemra is a drug that has just passed the clinical trials to use for GCA. It is also been used for several years for rheumatoid arthritis for adults and children. The clinical trials were very good for using this with people who have difficulty with the high doses of Prednisone for GCA. It has not been FDA approved as yet, but should be soon. I live in the U.S.A. where the Actemra is being used very selectively at this time.

I hope your sore throat and hoarseness goes away soon as well. Take care.

[Ronswife]

I had the sore throat with PMR and mds didn't say anything but I believe those areas are inflamed as well. New to this I hope I do not have the eye disease too. My mouth could open only 1 inch. I am on my first reduction from 15 mg

[Deb61]

Hi denny-g

Could be from the high prednisone as well because you can get thrush. I had it really bad and had a sore throat and lost my voice. I had to go on medication for the thrush as well and it took a long time to go away. Steroids can definitely cause thrush but the GCA affected my voice too!. It is so frustrating too have so many things to deal with when you have the GCA!!!

All the best!

[denny-g]

thanks for all your replies ,its probably thrush as i had it last time i flared.