Upped my prednisone no results!

[Hunter134]

Just moved and iam sure i've relapsed. Upped my prednisone from 7 to 10 but still in alot of pain everywhere.Will have to go for bloodwork to confirm.Getting so frustrated.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

The recommendation is +5mg - so 12mg. And patience.

[Navion in reply to PMRpro]

+5 for how long.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Navion]

If it works, you can stay there for up to 7-10 days, possibly even 14 days and drop back to just above the dose where you flared without a taper. If it doesn't work then you have to think whether this is a flare in disease activity rather than a flare because of overshooting the dose you need.

[Navion in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks. I had been on 9 mg for 9 months,not able to reduce. I suspect I should have been at 10 mg and I still had some pretty bad days but I stubbornly refused to go up. So I thought I was doing some better so I tried slowly dropping to 8 and got slammed with pain and stiffness. I tried going back up to 9 and then to 10 for a few days and it did nothing.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Navion]

Never be tempted to try going even lower if the dose you are on is absolutely borderline. Think about it - you had 9 months of poor quality of life and a short period of rubbish QOL. Now you are struggling to get things sorted!

[Navion in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks for the advice. I knew in my brain that I should have been at 10 or higher but I just couldn't stand it emotionally at the time. I am a person who was super healthy and never took any meds unless absolutely necessary so this PMR is rewriting my life script.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Navion]

You aren't alone in that, believe me!

[SheffieldJane]

Have you been diagnosed for about a year? Do you think that you are marching downwards through sheer frustration with the disease? Around 7 mgs is notoriously difficult to get down from ( Adrenal function etc).

In the end I stayed at 7 mgs for a full year. My Rheumatologist suggesting Methotrexate as a steroid sparer, all the while ( I didn’t want this drug - side effects and dubious efficacy for our conditions.) something changed with time alone and I was able to get down to 3 mgs after this. No real flares as long as I stopped when symptoms indicated.

I was diagnosed with Large Cell Vasculitis after 4 years of PMR, so sometimes, something else is going on.

[Jackoh]

I know you won’t want to hear this but just try to “go with the flow”. The more you get angry and frustrated the more stress you have, the more pain you have and the longer it takes to get back on track. As PMRpro said go up 5 mg for about a week and then drop down to just above the point you started to have problems. You should then find you can carry on ok, as long as you don’t try to do loads more than you were doing before and put in rests and pacing. Enjoy your new home!!

[Gaycreasey]

It’s not surprising that you’ve relapsed. Moving is very stressful and that will have an impact on your symptoms. I moved two years ago on a very hot July day. My lovely daughter was helping and at one o’clock she took one look at me and marched me off to her house, with orders to have some lunch and rest. I had to up my dosage and it was a while before I was back to ‘normal’. I know it’s difficult when you have so much to do, but try not to rush it . It will all get done eventually!! Good luck.

[AliDeJ]

Hello. I developed pain in my legs and arms again at 6.5 mg of pred in January this year after three years of PMR and GCA. I had been tapering too fast, just wanting the disease to go away. My GP said to try 15 mg, but I didn't want to go up that high, so I tried 10 mg. No relief at all! I went up to 15 mg and the magic happened. I wrote to the Rheumy who kindly phoned, and said stay at 15 for two months and then continue with a reduction of 1 mg every two months. I've learnt my lesson. Don't be hasty with the reductions and don't ignore the onset of symptoms. Hope all is well for you now.