on 20 mg pred since nov 1 only last few days pain subiding

[arvine]

i am new to this site, but would like to know, if it is unusual for a dose of 20 mg to acutally take 2 and 11/2 mos before noticing the pain in my shoulders, buttocks and back of legs to be improved, previous to that i was on 40 oct 12 and dropped from that to 20 over 3 wk period,

[polkadotcom]

It would be unusual for it to take that long, but I think your initial taper was perhaps a bit too quick and you may have been in a flare by the time you reached 20mg. However, now that you are feeling better it might be a good idea if you can talk to your doctor/rheumy about a slow taper from here.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

As polkadotcom rightly says too quick a reduction, and possible flare. Please take reductions more slowly in future. No point in taking the Pred at too low a dose- you get the side effects and pain with no benefits. Plus the inflammation could be causing you damage you're not aware of.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It depends what was causing the pain - I had horrendous hip, hand and foot pain which took 3 or 4 months at 15mg to fade. The stiffness and muscle pain was 70% improved in hours but anything that could have been tendonitis/synovitis/bursitis took much much longer. But needing a high dose or difficulty in reducing at these higher doses could be a sign this isn't actually PMR but something else. That is the trouble with starting with doses as high as 40mg for "just" PMR - it muddies the water.

[Polywotsit PMRGCAuk team member]

Hi Arvine,

Have you been referred to a rheumatologist? It is certainly not usual for PMR to be so resistant to steroid treatment, and to be honest you were on a really high dose to begin with. You need to see a specialist. Or get a second opinion. 20mg is the dose most people start on. So I wouldn't agree that your taper has been too slow. It could be that steroids are not the right treatment for you.