Breakthrough symptoms

[irisweeder]

Hi I'm new to here I was diagnosed PMR in march and prescribed 15mg prednisolone I occasionally have slight pain in some joints and a feeling that a headache may start these are nothing much and very soon pass. Should I start to reduce my dose as recommended?

[Hidden]

Morning Iris

Not everyone can be completely pain free, though for some lucky people every pain disappears.

Have you tried a simple over the counter pain med for the headache & joint pain? The headache may be unconnected & the joint pain may be OA so the Pred won’t really help that. When are you due to reduce your Pred?

Kind Regards

MrsN

[irisweeder in reply to Hidden]

Hi I am due to reduced this week to 12.5 mg

[Hidden in reply to irisweeder]

Maybe worth a telephone call to your GP to see what he thinks?....

[Soraya_PMR in reply to Hidden]

Pred at 15 would ease OA some wouldn’t it?

I only have base of thumbs, and they quite liked the higher pred doses. Not so happy now at 6 👎🏻👎🏻

[Hidden in reply to Soraya_PMR]

It certainly hid a lot of my old war wounds, aches & pains.

But it won’t hold everything at bay unless you are on very high doses.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Depends what "as recommended" is! Whose rules? By how much? How?

[Soraya_PMR]

Are these early morning pains?

When do you take your pred?

[irisweeder]

Hi no the pains are anytime I take pred in the morning

[Soraya_PMR in reply to irisweeder]

Are they JOINT pains? Or muscle? Do they come after activity?

Are you getting sufficient rest periods?

[irisweeder in reply to Soraya_PMR]

Maybe muscle pain

[Hidden in reply to irisweeder]

If it feels muscular then could be what they call delayed onset muscle soreness. The muscles don't recover as quickly as healthy you did. The muscles can ache like you have cycled up a mountain. Sometimes if i have done too much (doesnt take much!) I can barely walk up stairs. At least mine are. Paracetamol can help that. If it does then it confirms its not PMR pains.

[Soraya_PMR in reply to Hidden]

I had the oddest DOMS this week, couldn’t walk DOWN the stairs! That’s a first.

[Hidden in reply to Soraya_PMR]

😂😂😂 i can see "you" standing at the top of the stairs trying to work it out. I hope you found a way or are you still stuck upstairs?

I had to say if could pick a sheet of paper up off the floor in a benefit application. I knew i couldnt . At work previously I had spent 5 mins walking round a sheet like a wrestler trying to work out how to pick it up. I couldnt. I probably had the same look on my face as you did.

[Soraya_PMR in reply to Hidden]

I didn’t realise until I had taken a couple of steps Ouch 1 & ouch 2. I think I sort of went sideways, using a different set of muscles, like I do in the kitchen sometimes when my thighs are fizzing. I was wondering if my memory had failed and I’d been horse riding 😂🤣😂🤣

[Hidden in reply to Soraya_PMR]

I have a thing where i cant go forwards so backwards it is. It was embarrassing when i worked. I would be standing tbere waiting for the room/foyer/cafe to clear so i could walk backwards swearing.

🐎🐎🐎

[Soraya_PMR in reply to Hidden]

I may have employed the swear technique along side the 🦀 move 🤭

[Hidden in reply to Soraya_PMR]

Ah....muscular tourettes effects us all....

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Soraya_PMR]

Down is harder than up!!

[Hidden in reply to PMRpro]

Yes i have done the single step gait for years.

[Soraya_PMR in reply to PMRpro]

Is it? I’ve always had difficulty going up, and not too much problem coming down.

[SheffieldJane]

15 mg is a modest start dose for PMR. My guess is that you would obtain greater relief at 20 mgs. I stayed at that start dose until my symptoms completely settled (6 weeks) and then started a very slow DSNS taper. This worked for me until I hit the rocks at 7 mgs but that’s another story.

[piglette]

It is normal for people to start reducing at around four weeks or so if they feel OK and the PMR has been got under control. As the others say most people do not have complete pain relief but at least 70% relief is expected. I assume your doctor is suggesting you now reduce to 12.5mg which is quite usual, although some people find that a bit much. The only reason you would not want to start reducing if you feel that the pred has not got the PMR under control when you may need to increase. I never had headaches but I did start to have them when I started pred.

[HeronNS]

Pred may be causing your headaches. Make sure you stay well hydrated. As for increasing the dose rather than tapering as instructed, I'd try the other suggestions first, treating the pains you feel as add-ons rather than PMR. If they are eased by a simple analgesic like acetaminophen or similar, then you know you don't need pred for them. It may be easier to taper by 1 mg per week or fortnight, however, rather than 2.5 in one go. Or you could use one of the slow taper methods which are often recommended: dead slow nearly stop (DSNS) or DorsetLady's slow taper, which ease the body gently into a lower dose.