How does steroid myopathy differ from pmr? Consultant now says stiffness is myopathy, but it wears off during the day.

[Cally55]

Desperate to get off steroids but this stiffness seems familiar.

[Mary63]

Have you lost strength in your muscles? As I think that is one of the main features of steroid myopathy.

[Cally55 in reply to Mary63]

Not really, because I have several fractures from osteoporosis I don't lift anything very heavy. Just took dog out for 1/2 hour and legs seem less stiff and painful.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

If it is steroid myopathy you usually use muscle bulk - I did. I also didn't have stiffness, I had weakness, totally different. And the more I did - the worse I felt...

There are a LOT of doctors who want ANYTHING to be due to pred - they have a fixation about it.

[Cally55 in reply to PMRpro]

Thats what i thought, I did lose a bit of muscle in the summer but I have had to give up riding because if the fractures. I think that recently it has started to come back as I do more walking. I am now on a third dmard, azathioprine, 2 weeks in and nothing other than tiredness to show for it! Hoping for the best with it. I don't need any doctor telling me I need to get off pred,I know just how bad the side effects are for some of us, but now they accept I started with GCA, I don't want to have any more irreversible effects.

I seem to get this steroid side effect explanation at regular intervals but I did have muscle weakness at the high doses, 20 plus, and to me this stiffnes that wears off during the day is quite different.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Cally55]

Any chance of a different doctor? If the muscle bulk fell because of stopping riding (no wonder!) and is returning with walking - I'd be sceptical about pred-induced myopathy...