I have now been off Prednisone for 4 month. I started with 20 mg Pred. in March 2019. Beginning of August I was still taking 20mg and on the advise of my Homeopathic Doc, I started taking one little pellet of Causticum ( 6 pellets over time all together) and reduced Pred. 1 mg every 5 days or so. reducing was easy and painless. I have had no complications or flares since then. I am eating healthy, exercising or walking every day and taking just one 'Cortisol health' herbal supplement a day. I decided on that myself, I thought it might help my adrenal function. Don't know if it does anything, but I feel normal and have not had any pain or a cold or the flu, which my hubby usually brings home around this time of year. (knock on wood). I eat a lot of spinach, kale, cabbage and all those good things, also flaxseed bread or sunflower seed bread. I have had a stiff neck for several weeks now and will consult a Chiropractor next week. Just wanted to update my last post and to let people know how it is possible to only have PMR for a short period of time. (thanks to my Homeopathic Doc.)
I do think that PMR is also hereditary, or the tendency for an immune disease like it. I have three sisters all in their 70s, one has Parkinsons, one has had MS for years, and one has Fibromyalgia. I was the last one to get any symptoms. They live in Germany, I live in the US.
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km5yx7
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Hi, km5yx7, can you please give a little more details about the causticum you took? How many milligrams in each pellet? You say you started with one pellet, but over what period of time did you increase the dose? It sounds like it wouldn't hurt to try it!
I believe the first little pellets of Causticum I took were maybe 20 c ( don't know what amount that stands for). I took one when ever I thought I might need one. Which I did not , I felt as if I could have reduced Prednisone a lot faster, I was just cautious.
Doc said not to take them too often. Since my he will be gone for a few month, he left me 3 envelopes labeled: 6 pellets Causticum --30c,
6 pellets Causticum--200c, and one envelope with Homeocortisone --9c.
Well, I don't know , that is what it says on my envelope with the little pellets in a tiny vial. Handwritten by Doc, so maybe that is just his name for it? It might be a combination of things it was derived from.
I'm pleased it seems to be working for you but you may need to be prepared to take more conventional meds if the inflammation builds and you have a flare.
Yes, of course, I have kept my Prednisone pills. I am also a cautious person like you, but a more positive thinker and glad I am not taking Prednisone anymore. Do we always know what is in our drugs and our food and water nowadays? I trust my Homeopathic Doc to not give me anything that would have adverse affects. Which I can't say about my regular Doc.
Look up on the internet how homeopathic remedies are created.
I will not post any more replies, because I don't not feel as if I have to defend myself, my treatment or my good fortune of having gotten rid of any PMR symptoms in such a short time.
You dont have to defend your views but you can not state on this forum that homeopathic medicines are safe and it wont harm people to try them. Yes they can and thats why i editted your claims.YBB
I understand completely that you may feel on the defensive on this issue .
For many it might be an untried concept , or, they feel more skeptical about Homeopathic Treatment for PMR when they compare other people's experiences using the same Treatments as you are trying , so , they will question things more . H
I don't think comments like , " I am also a cautious person like you , but a more positive thinker" , is a kind or fair way to speak to , or criticize , others whom might question your views or adds weight to your side of this debate.
I am sorry if my need to express this upsets you , but I think it's unnecessarily personal , the back and forth of debate on both sides is better served by being positive .
Happy words make Healthy Forums ,,even if there is hot debate over a difference in views.
Good Luck with your Treatment choice , I hope it continues to work for you.
I have not increased the amount or taken any more Causticum since the initial 6 pellets offered me, taken over the 6 weeks or so of reducing. I have been ok and without Prednisone or pain since then. I don't feel like i need any more, but it is good to have them on hand in a larger dose.
THIS IS NOT IN FACT TRUE AND ALL HERBAL AND HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINES SHOULD ONLY BE USED AFTER ADVICE FROM A FULLY QUALIFIED MEDICAL DOCTOR. Yellowbluebell moderator
Either way, they can't hurt you, they are not drugs or like traditional medications.
Anything herbal can hurt you and unless you are a chemist you have no idea what is in those pellets and you could be taking something harmful. Pmr/gca uk do not reccomend homeopathic medicine as a cure for pmr as only pred can manage the inflammation and sll homeopathy could POSSIBLY do is ease some side effects of the pred. Plus according to homeopaths the right treatment varies depending on the person and what works for one might not or others with the same symptoms. YBB
Thanks for posting this and giving me something to look into. I’m a great believer in homeopathy, which has helped me in the past when conventional medicine could not.
Please look into homeopathy but take advice from your medical doctor before coming off pred and before starting any herbal or homeopathic remedy. I am quite happy to believe in homeopathy to treat various ailments just not to cure pmr in 6 weeks. YBB
It is probably worth pointing out that Causticum was prescribed for you as an individual. A Homeopath will take a very detailed case study and prescribe based on that. Also, the remedies contain none of the material substance of some of the very toxic bases of Homeopathic remedies. Extensive scientific investigations would only show a sugar pill. A homeopath would believe that the energy from the original substance is imprinted on the tablets by a special process of basically vigorously shaking it up.
Having said all that, I am interested in your results and I know it would be harmless to see a Homeopath and take a prescribed remedy. My husband saw a Homeopath for very bad facial eczema caused by being a guinea pig for a flu vaccine when he was a student. The eczema cleared up completely, never to return.
They treat based on your own unique symptom picture and history and go into great depth. This feels therapeutic in itself.
I studied it at Aston University in the 80’s and believe that there is a place for it as an complimentary therapy, for non life threatening conditions. It has been used since the 1800’s. Arnica is a well known remedy for falls and bruising and that kind of pain.
It is not herbal. Causticum is related to Sodium Hydroxide. Nobody would take that in a material dose.
I hope that makes sense - it’s been a long time. I hope you continue to flourish. 🍀
I studied it as well and am quite happy for people to try it but saying it wont harm anyone is dangerous when also saying they gave up pred at the same time and were cured of pmr in 6 weeks!! As i stated just reccomending causticum as a cure is also wrong when as you quite rightly point out like me is that a proper homeopath would prescribe the correct remedy based on a detailed questioning not just because someone else was "cured" by a remedy.
Everyone is free to try what they want when they want but there are vulnerable people on this forum who might just try the same thing without medical advice and become very ill. That why i edited the claim of "no harm" not just because of the homeopathy pmr cure. YBB
The very worst thing Homeopathy can do is nothing, that’s what happens if you take the wrong remedy. Yellowbluebell, but it is no substitute for medicines that it is dangerous to do without. I did a 4 year diploma in Birmingham. Where did you study ? We are all vulnerable here but we must keep an open mind and not alienate people with diverse beliefs who may need us in the future. My two year old ate a lot of my remedies one day, as they were sugar pills, he came to no harm. I am concerned that we are becoming reactionary when anyone suggests a different approach. Driving people away from this great site is not safeguarding people.
I quite openly said i dont disagree with homeopathy but i dont agree with how it was touted as a "cure" for pmr when combined with dropping pred in the way suggested. Not reactionary but protective of the more vulnerable on this forum which i would have thought you would agree with. This was never just about homeopathy but about a dangerously fast reduction of pred combined with not consulting a proper medical doctor first and claiming it wouldn't harm anyone. How does anyone other than a qualified doctor know what could negatively affect someone and even if all genuine homeopathy is, is just succussed water, then depending on where people get their homeopathic remedies from affects what they contain. Not everyone can afford the consultation and could easily buy remedies from places with no guarantee of safety regarding ingredients. Not always just sugar as you claim.
People are free to suggest other ways to deal with pmr on the forum and thats quite acceptable as long as they make it clear its dangerous to just stop pred and to take proper medical advice before starting such treatments and if buying remedies themselves to buy from a genuine supplier . The original post did not do that hence why i edited it. YBB
"The very worst thing Homeopathy can do is nothing ..."
That isn't quite true SJ - if someone stops taking their mainstream medication suddenly because they believe they don't need it as they are taking a homeopathic remedy it could potentially put them at risk.
I have used homeopathy - when I had metalwork removed from my leg and recovered very quickly with no bruising at all, much to the amazement of the medical staff and physios. I have no idea how it worked but it did.
I don't think we are reactionary - but you do have to remember that the forum is the public face of a registered medical charity. There are several studies in various countries that cast doubt on the claims made by homeopathic supporters - who always seem to be very unwilling to subject their claims to rigorous scientific study in clinical trials. Edzard Ernst had some very unpleasant experiences when he wanted to do just that.
I am sorry that I wasn’t clear when I said “ it is no substitute for medicines we cannot do without” that’s what I meant. Definitely complimentary not alternative. I also said something about not using it for life threatening conditions. Like you I have experienced and witnessed things in Homeopathy that can’t be explained.
I hope you are including me in the “we”. I have to guard against a closed mind the older I get.
I might be thinking of caustic soda - not for swallowing in quantity anyway. Some of the remedies are spider or snake venom. I was just making the point that they distantly derive from poisons but contain nothing you would see under a microscope.
I am using homeopathy from a qualified homeopath recently it has enabled me to be on a lower dose of pred than if I wasnt using it. I am tapering 7.0 to 6.5 and if PMR niggles arise hp removes them
Con: What I always wonder about is the fact that the medicine is prepared in a facility under, I assume, very careful conditions which include shaking and "imprinting" the curative features of the substance. And then packaged and shipped wherever, presumably shaken up during transit and so forth.
If the stiff neck is a PMR symptom, manipulation my make it worse. Our muscles become pretty intolerant. My neck pain was diagnosed as Cervical Spondylosis. I suspect poor posture whilst working on the computer was the culprit. I hope you obtain relief, it’s miserable.
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