Flare Up

[cmcg830]

Hi All. I'm new to this site and am anxious to hear others stories of their experiences with PMR. I was diagnosed in 2013/2014 with PMR. Did the Prednisone Taper which took over a year to get to 5mg/day and have been at 5mg or under since then. Occasional flares during this time but never back up to 20mg/day. Recently have experienced big flare up and have been on 20mg/day for past 5 days. I was hopeful that this was over but I guess not.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hi,

No it would appear not, unfortunately for you. Sorry to hear you’ve had to go right back up to 20mg, who’s decision was that? And what’s your predicted way forward from that dose. Hopefully you can get back down to single figures fairly quickly, but from then you need to slow it down.

The average time for PMR seems to be around 4 years, and recently many doctors seem agree to that rather than the 2 years time limit they used to bandy about before.

Of course, in some it does last longer, but once you get below the 7.5mg mark (which roughly equates to the body natural level of cortisone) you get very little in the side effect line, so at least that’s a bonus.

It must be very disappointing for you at the moment, but hang on in there, you will get to the end one day. 🌹