Should it stay or should it go

[Welshnewbie]

Hi again to all you peeps out there. So pleased I found this site. I am educated every day I go on this site so big thanks to you all. Question if any one can advise. I am down to 4.5 mg and take it in 2 doses- 2.5 in the morning and 2 in the evening. I am taking l Omeprazole pill in the morning 30 mins before I take the pred. Do I still need to be on this? Plus shout out to all the ladies. I am 53 and experiencing hot flushes off and on throughout the day. Are these more frequent because if the pred? Also any thoughts re taking HRT whilst on PRED- can you? Cheers again to all.. literally this has been a lifeline.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

The hot flushes are either the pred - though usually they fall away as you reduce the pred dose - or they may be telling you that the underlying autoimmune cause of the symptoms we call PMR is still active. I find if I go slightly too low with the pred dose the hot flush sensations return, especially about 5am , and then gentler through the day.

Taking oestrogen in HRT slows down the rate the pred is broken down in the liver and CAN make the side effects of the pred worse. Not saying it would, just there is the potential.

[Welshnewbie in reply to PMRpro]

thanks for your response. I am in the menopause no doubt so hot flushes are a common occurrence. So it’s hard to differentiate as to whether it’s that or the PMR.. it’s quite light throughout the day and sometimes I’ll get a night one but this is rare. I feel that I am getting a double whammy down to pred and menopause!!!

[Soraya_PMR]

Google omeprazole and hot flashes. Although not listed as a side effect, quite a few reports of it.

I had hot flushes with menopause, trickling sweat during the night. During the day they felt as if they appeared in the middle of my diaphragm and whoosh! Everywhere! From PMR they felt like they came from my head and whoosh! Yes, everywhere! Now on pred I feel less hot flushy, more like rising temperature, more like you’d get with a cold, up and down, cardigans on and off..... I gave up wearing sweaters as they were too difficult to get off and took too long!

I’ve been on HRT patches for about 10 years. No one has suggested I stop. I think they’re offering some bone protection, my dexa was lovely.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Soraya_PMR]

Interesting - my hot flushes are preceded by feeling as if I've been punched in the solar plexus!

[Soraya_PMR in reply to PMRpro]

As in actual pain? Breath taken away?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Soraya_PMR]

A big tingling sensation in my midriff. Not sure I could say pain and breathing is fine!

[Suet3942 in reply to PMRpro]

I get the same. Like a nervous sort of feeling. Thought it was just me! And it’s always between 4 and 5 am. Very strange!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Suet3942]

I'm pretty sure it is due to the inflammatory substances being shed in the body. The only time I don't feel it is on a higher dose of pred - Itake Lodotra at 10pm so the pred is at it maximum about 4am - so it grabs the inflammation before it gets anywhere. Not everyone feels it.

[Suet3942 in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks for your prompt reply PMRpro

[Hidden]

If you are anything like me in menopausal sweating it came from both body and head. I had a fan by my bed that I had to put on several times a night. Pre PMR dx and whilst taking pred down to about 10mg the same sweaty feeling. In the summer I used to have a couple of cool showers a day to stay fresh. Only ixccasional sweats now. But I have been know to have thick woolly socks on my feet and a cooling fan on my head and body.

[Jackoh]

Hi I was taking Evorel HRT patches before PMR and then GCA came on the scene. I still continue to have the patches as personally I didn't want to stop them because I felt I wouldn't be able to know what were the symptoms of PMR and what were the symptoms of coming off HRT. I don't seem to have any problems taking both the pred and the HRT.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Jackoh]

I stopped my HRT because of the last big scare. A few months later PMR appeared on the scene - I wish I'd never given mine up...

[Jackoh]

To PMRpro - you just don't know do you? As you said yourself earlier in the thread it might not have been beneficial for you personally to have been on both. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!!! I personally like to think that things happen for a good reason.