A Little Prednisolone Advice Please: Good morning... - PMRGCAuk

PMRGCAuk

20,124 members37,707 posts

A Little Prednisolone Advice Please

Amstel profile image
2 Replies

Good morning all. So I began my journey with PMR in July 2016, on 15mg which worked wonders. Since then I have been able to reduce down to 9mg which is where I've been for about 6 months. I have always split the dose morning and evening as I found at the beginning it wasn't lasting me 24 hours and would wake up in pain. The split dose has worked for me and I have been able to continue my life fairly sucessfully as a part time weekend rock drummer and Harley Davidson trike rider. By the way I'm 63, have been playing for over 50 years, and still have an 18 year olds outlook on life...!!! Besides the drumming part of it, gigging also includes a lot of heavy lifting and setting up which I've been able to manage ok until this last weekend. Since then I have found myself with extreme pain and stiffness in my shoulders and the backs of my upper legs, almost like it was when it all first began. Today walking has become really difficult as has lifting my right arm. My worry is that I may have to increase the dose again maybe back to 10mg and I would really rather not. I'm also on adcal, lansoprazol and alendronic acid. I had tried previously reducing to 8.5 mg as things were appearing to go well but the pain came back after just one day of that reduced dose...!! Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated, thank you and Merry Christmas... :-)

Written by
Amstel profile image
Amstel
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Read more about...
2 Replies
PMRpro profile image
PMRproAmbassador

You are obviously just on the cusp of the dose that is enough to manage the inflammation. It's colder???? You have done more gigging because of the time of year and parties? Overdoing things maybe...

Many doctors suggest try a few days of the dose at which a flare appears and then going back to the dose you were at, or 1.2mg more - the first clears out the inflammation jam that is causing the symptoms and lets you go back to where you were. I had back problems a couple of weeks ago. The GP did injections to try to relieve the pain first and it worked for nearly a week but then it was back. Then I increased my dose from 7mg to 9mg for a few days - miraculous relief immediately the first day! - and am on my way back down now. I'm waiting for physio - which always allows me to reduce the dose again once the short-term problem is ironed out. But it is also always the first sign of a flare for me.

Don't reject the concept of a little bit more - it may be the difference that means you don't need a lot more.

SheffieldJane profile image
SheffieldJane

Far be it for me to tell a biker/ rock star to ease up a bit, but couldn’t you get a roadie for the hauling?

Old fashioned bed rest may rescue this. If not, 10 mgs Pred is not the end of the world. You may have actually injured yourself, so perhaps run it past your doctor. My husband gets the occasional excruciating back spasm that is relieved by diazepam.

You may also like...

Advice on Prednisolone please

don't remember having such bloating and wind pains before. I have vasculitis and am resisting...

Leflunomide and tapering prednisolone for GCA, advice please

asked to reduce by 5 mg each month until I reached 15 mg in January. The main symptom has been a...

A little advice needed please!

months of increasing pain and lack of mobility. I have gradually been reducing from 15mg of...

Prednisolone dose advice

last two days my PMR symptoms have slammed back in- not the worst they’ve been but not good. Yes, I...

Advice needed on fine tuning prednisolone

two years since diagnosis and having started on 15mg if prednisolone, have managed to get down to 7...