Painful fingers - PMR? An experiment!

[Lin-lou]

First, a recap to my recent posts about having painful fingers and slight swelling in both hands which appeared during a flare whilst trying to reduce steroids 9/8 mg alt. days. I assumed the fingers pain and stiffness was all part of the flare, until it was suggested on here that it might be something else. During the flare I raised my dose to 10 mg, the dose that 'zapped' previous flares and thankfully after about two weeks at that it settled down, leaving just the dodgy fingers!! My doctor said to go up another mg and see what happens, but I was hesitant to do that if it wasn't PMR! I'd also read on here that steroids will help PMR and other things (or mask them), whereas Paracetamol, whilst it will relieve a lot of pains, won't touch PMR. That being the case, I decided to try a little experiment. I took a Paracetamol on Friday night when I woke around 2 am, before the steroids taken with breakfast set to work. Sure enough, around three hours after taking the Paracetamol, the time when normally pains and stiffness would be at their worst, it all seemed to have eased somewhat, nothing like as bad as recently. The next night I left things as before, ie no Paracetamol. When I woke up next morning (today) I tried stretching and clenching my hands and I felt they were not as good as the night with a Paracetamol, and were about the same pain level as in recent weeks. So, it would appear to my untrained eye that my hands, fingers and wrists pains are possibly due to some form of arthritis, but only guessing.

This may not be a scientific medical experiment and may not really prove anything at all but I think it did at least help to confirm that my finger/hand pains are likely to be something else other than PMR, until I can get an expert opinion anyway. My next Rheumy appt. is in October. For now, my mind is more settled, (although I still don't know the actual cause of these pains), the flare is hopefully "zapped", the fingers have improved and aren't too bad when the steroids help out - or I can take a Paracetamol! Sorry this turned into a ramble and my amateur experiment may not prove much, if anything at all, but it might "ring a bell" with someone else wondering whether certain pains are PMR or not. Any thoughts welcome even if to tell me I'm totally off-track!

[Hidden]

The pain you have described previously and your test suggest it might indeed be OA or similar if paracetamol helped. Maybe a structured paracetamol attack for a few days might give even clearer picture. My friend has it in knees and occasion has to do a week of paracetamol to clear pain up.

[Lin-lou in reply to Hidden]

Thank you, Poopadoop. You must have had a way of knowing that earlier this morning I did, indeed, pop a Paracetamol! I'm reluctant to take more pills (aren't we all) but it's silly to endure pain if help is at hand. I had changed the bed sheets and tucking the fitted sheet under was a real struggle and so I paused to take a Para. and again it did help (I'd only taken the steroids about an hour before, so must have been mostly the Para, I think).

Sorry about your friend, too. I don't know much about arthritis and its variants so will have to research a bit. I did have RA diagnosed in my thumb and wrist many years ago but that just went away on its own after quite a longish period. The body is such a complex thing, isn't it! I'm just grateful to live at a time when we have modern medicine to help us when things go wrong!

[Jackoh]

Yes saw that comment made to you re trying paracetamol to test whether it was related to PMR or not. ( can't remember who suggested it) Glad it worked for you and one handy tip to remember for the future.

[Tonylynn]

Is it possible this is a Carpal tunnel problem. I assume you have been tested for Lyme as this can be linked to carpal tunnel and in my case I was initially diagnosed with PMR, only to find out a couple of years later that I had Lyme, which was treated with antibiotics and fine ever since !!!! ( but had carpal tunnel operation).

[Lin-lou]

Thanks, Tonylynn. That must have been a surprise finding that out, but glad it sorted you out with a good result finally. No, not been tested for anything in my hands as only just become a problem, other than the same thing happened during a flare last December.