Newbie sufferer - questions, questions, questions!

[vismith1]

Hello everyone! I was diagnosed as a result of comprehensive blood tests, very quickly (6 days) after my first appointment with my nurse practitioner on 6 Sept 2017 when I presented with all the painful inflammatory symptoms of pmr. I started on 15mg of prednisolone daily and noticed a marked improvement after a week. I realise in hindsight that there had been a few niggles for a while prior to the full blown "flare" . I have a follow up appointment in a few days, presumably to talk about tapering. Very wary of doing this too quickly, as I really appreciate being pain-free, and being able to go for walks again etc. I have loads of questions about cortisol production in my body, and what caused it to go haywire! Also I did read that grapefruit juice might help in some way. Any clues?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hi,

Welcome, and sorry to hear you have PMR - good quick diagnosis though!

Have a look through the attached, and then come back with any specific questions. Grapefruit juice is a new one on me!

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

[piglette]

I know you should not take grapefruit if you are taking statins, but have not heard of anything to do with PMR.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It is nothing to do with cortisol production in your body and grapefruit juice is unlikely to make any difference. As DL says - that is a new one on me too!

PMR is the name given to the symptoms caused by inflammation due to your immune system going haywire and attacking your body tissues thinking they are "foreign" invaders.

[vismith1 in reply to PMRpro]

Yes. I get that pmr is the name given to the symptoms, but if it is nothing to do with cortisol production, why do glucocorticoids relieve the symptoms?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to vismith1]

Because pred and co are antiinflammatory substances and also calm down the activity of the immune system as they are immonosuppressants. It is only if your adrenal glands do not go back to normal function when you are below about 8mg pred/day that you use the pred as replacement therapy. Even then, your PMR may be happy on one dose and your adrenal function prefers another.

[vismith1]

Thanks. So maybe the inflammation I suffered was as a result of low cortisol levels in the first instance. Sure am glad to be on prednisolone now! ☺️

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to vismith1]

Unlikley - although low adrenal function is ASSOCIATED with PMR, it is not the CAUSE.

Being on pred makes your adrenal glands have a snooze - and not until you lower the pred dose do they have to wake up again. Sometimes they don't, it rare for them not to but they are often rather slow...