Hi, I've been on pred for 3 years now! Reduced to 4mg and was feeling fine, but since self isolating I have developed painful wrists, hands - sometimes lower arms. I never had this before as it used to only affect my shoulders, legs and of course the fatigue.
Do you think this is PMR or something else? Should I increase dosage as if it was a flare? Its so difficult now that we are kept in - if you cant really use your hands.........
Thanks
It can cause hand pain...my hands certainly suffered. There is a specific condition that can cause swelling and has been seen in PMR. I am sure someone will remember it. It may also be that osteoarthritis has crept up on you. Have you tried painkillers???
If OTC painkillers don't ease the pain it could be you need a bit more pred/are starting to flare. Stress can cause a flare so if you need more pred...i would try .try painkillers 4x a day first to check if ithey work. It takes a while to get the pain under control.
Have you been doing anything for long periods, no matter how light?
Hi,
Sorry to hear of your problems. Something very similar happened to me when I was at 4.5 mgs. I had never had wrist problems in the two and a half years I.had PMR, but, like you I posted about it when both my wrists became quite painful.
The reply I got suggested it might be a flare, and I was advised to increase to 7 mg and see what happened. For me, it was like a miracle cure. I stayed at 7 mg for 12 days, then very gradually tapered down at a half mg at a time till I got to 4.5 mg again four months later.
I could not say that a similar course of action would work for you, because our metabolisms are all so different. All I can say is that it worked for me.
Good luck
Paddy
I had that with PMR and thumb/wrist pain is almost always a sign I am flaring. The disorder Poops mentions is RS3PE syndrome - but I don't know if it will surface as you reduce the pred dose, moderate dose pred usually deals with .
What are you doing unusual now you are shut in? Extra cleaning? Holding books for long periods?
Thank you all so much. I am greatly relieved that I am not the only one with sore wrists...
I had indeed been cleaning windows, reading, cooking....since I have been confined to the house which could have sparked a flare...
I think I will try going up 1 mg to 5 mg tomorrow and see how it goes. I looked up RS3PE on Wikipedia - interesting . I hope I haven't got it but increased pred might help
Obviously in the present situation it is not seen as good to increase your dosage of Pred - but I dont think I can just sit here not being able to do anything for 3 months!
Thanks again. Any more thoughts appreciated.
I think you have your answer!!
Yes, I do appreciate you want something to do - but try just ONE thing at a time and alternate it with just reading or something. You have 3 months to do it - and believe me, you are going to have MORE than 3 months. Here we started lockdown two and a half weeks ago - the regional peak is not expected to be until mid April at the earliest, it may be later. And then you have to wait for it to subside before it is safe to "get out of jail". Even after June there will be a degree of social distancing for some time after.
It is not until effective lockdown is achieved that you can expect improvements, My daughter tells me there are still bikers congregating in Helmsley - and no doubt there are more all over the UK. One friend says there is constant traffic heading for the beach past her house - many beaches will be the same. And our local expert says the 20-30 years olds are the main carriers of the virus but they rarely show any symptoms so are not obvious. They are circulating, often meeting together, and going home to their families and spreading the virus to their elders who become ill, often seriously so. Or some may be working in the few shops that are still open - contaminating surfaces. And when we are not vigilant - you can imagine the potential consequences.
This happened to me last May. I was due to fly to Spain to visit family and suddenly couldn't open up my hands one morning. Increased by 1mg but it took 2.5 to get pain and stiffness under control. I was on 6mg at the time. Dropped back fairly quickly after my trip. Now always sleep with my fingers straight, not clenched. If I get a mini flare now, it always hits me in lower back usually if I've done too much. I had bad pain in hands and wrists on diagnosis plus all other spots but rheumie was reducing me too fast. Once I did a slow reduced taper things improved.
It is usually better to add 3-5mg to existing dose for several days to take care of the problem and then drop back to just above the dose that you flared up. If your increase dose treatment is shorter then 10 days, then you don't need to taper down. However, if your problem still persist on higher dose, you may need to stay longer at it and then taper down as usual.
meant 'good' not 'God'. Sorry !
Your sore hands
Painful wrists and forearms 
Sore ear 
Losing strength in hands and wrists.
