Day 11 of 60 mgs prednisone.

[Aleish]

At 60 mgs prednisone my jaw is able to chew most food, but I am struggling with pecans and other nuts. Is this typical when trying to chew nuts and at some point should it improve? For now I will not try and snack on nuts. I'm very limited because my blood sugar is now 178 and I am also trying to eat little fruit. Any input appreciated.

[Rugger]

I like to include nuts in my diet, but because I had a load of dental surgery in 2016 and don't want a repeat this year, I now blitz my nuts in the food processor and keep them in an airtight jar and eat them with a teaspoon. Chewing already done for me! I don't have GCA - just PMR, so I can't help with your question.

[SnazzyD]

Is it only nuts? What about a good bit of chewy meat or other crunchy things? Where is the pain exactly? The jaw joint, muscle, teeth, temple? behind ear? Does the pain stop as soon as you stop chewing or does it go on a bit?

[Aleish in reply to SnazzyD]

Not on meat because my angina cannot tolerate fat, It's the jaw claudication symptom and I'm just greatful to be able to eat anything with out pain but nuts do trigger it. I find it a but of a problem with spouted grain toast. I don't eat crunch because I want to be in anti inflammatory foods for a faster outcome..

[SnazzyD in reply to Aleish]

Is it definitely jaw claudication and not perhaps TMJ problems? Are nuts the the most challenging thing you eat in terms of effort? If it was claudication my uneducated assumption would be that any eating that requires the muscle to work would set it off because the muscle is not getting the oxygen it needs. If the joint is unhappy it might be influenced by more specific things like impact, hardness, angle etc.

Might be worth just reading over this just to rule it out or not as a possibility or added factor.

patient.info/doctor/temporo...

[BonnyQuine]

Hello Aleish:

Started on 40mg Pred last Nov. - 8 months now and down to 12mg. Everything (except hair loss and steroid-induced diabetes) has been improving very gradually as I've gone along. 2 steps forward one step back, but not stopping. I used to have quite a lot of jaw pain and trouble w chewing in the early months. Now, I haven't had jaw pain for quite a while (touch wood!) - except a bit when chewing nuts. I thought it might be related to the weakness and muscle wasting, which has affected me a lot. So I keep eating the nuts, which are a valuable nutrient, and regard it as a form of exercise. I think it's improving. Here's hoping.

Best of luck.