Painful wrists and forearms : Hi everyone I’ve had... - PMRGCAuk

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Painful wrists and forearms

Leepeelee profile image
15 Replies

Hi everyone

I’ve had PMR for 13 months now, started on 20mg preds, now down to 5 mg, latest taper was 3 weeks-ago. Everything seemed ok until I

jet washed the patio yesterday, when I woke up this morning I had really stiff and painful wrists and really aching forearms

Has anyone experienced this?

I’m unsure if it is the PMR or osteoarthritis or both. I have been diagnosed with both.

It just seems strange that my forearms are aching so much

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Leepeelee profile image
Leepeelee
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15 Replies
SheffieldJane profile image
SheffieldJane

Our muscles are pretty tender when we overuse them. Keeps your hands folded neatly in your lap for a day or two, as much as you can. No more big jobs.

JoLou12 profile image
JoLou12

Yes! After raking the leaves in the garden during the autumn, my wrists and forearms really ached, another job I’ve passed on to hubby!

SnazzyD profile image
SnazzyD

Yes, doing that exact thing! I didn’t have arthritis or PMR, just a weakened body after Pred for GCA for a couple of years. It took a week for my neck, shoulders,lower arms and wrists to recover, especially the tendons from gripping for ages. Did it again recently having beefed up a bit and had just a bit of shoulder stiffness for a couple of days.

herdysheep profile image
herdysheep

Any prolonged/repetitive job can plague us afterwards. Some can't be avoided or passed on but could be done in several goes rather than all at once. As usual, we often don't know it's too much until afterwards!

PMRpro profile image
PMRproAmbassador

And how long did it take to use the jetwash? They are pretty powerful beasts and your forearm muscles have a LOT to do controlling it even if it didn't feel like it at the time.

Maybe doing it 5 mins at a time spread over a couple of sessions a day for a few days might have avoided the painful reminder that your muscles are still not back to normal - the pred is relieving the inflammation but the underlying illness is still active, attacking your muscles and other soft tissues around joints and leaving them intolerant of acute exercise. Even carrying a heavy shopping bag can make my forearms ache next day.

Leepeelee profile image
Leepeelee in reply toPMRpro

Ok, but I thought that PMR only caused pain the hips , buttocks, neck, thighs, shoulders and upper arms.

Those are the areas that I have had issues with over the past 13 months up until yesterday when my wrists and forearms started to ache.

This morning when I woke up I had some new pains which has started in both knee joints.

I am a little concerned that there could be something else going on

PMRpro profile image
PMRproAmbassador in reply toLeepeelee

My PMR affected my wrists and forearms very early on - I put it down to RSI originally but it was tendinitis and synovitis from the PMR. And then on top of that the pred doesn't really do soft tissue too many favours either - your soft tissues are in a delicate condition.

anutycrixp profile image
anutycrixp

Jet wash..as posted you do something and next day you suffer!Since being diagnosed and treated for P.M.R in 2018 I am a completely different person which persists, despite tentatively stoping steroids September this year.I aged overnight and am plagued sometimes surprising aches and pains,fatigue etc.I have also got arthritic thumbs,carpel tunnel syndrome both hands and avascular necrosis in shoulder [awaiting surgery]Most of this revealed itself as steroids reduced.This disease seems to bring with it a host of conditions ,it can't all be aging, can it? well best wishes and I hope your new pains settle soon.

IslandRN profile image
IslandRN

I had painful wrists in the beginning of my PMR journey after taking prednisone for 3 days. I added a Magnesium supplement to my nightly routine and within 2 days no more painful wrists! There have been others that have stated the same so unless contraindicated for you, may want to give Magnesium a try. Good Luck!

Hosers2 profile image
Hosers2

My past history showed that Simvistatin caused all of these symptoms five years ago. I dropped all statins and everything went away within a month. Five years later, June 2020, I woke to severe PMR. I still think Simvistatin has caused this. Anyone else taking statin drugs for high cholesterol?

Bcol profile image
Bcol in reply toHosers2

I've been on statins for a number of years now and the first three I tried, which includes Simvastatin, caused me worse aches and pains than my OA. Moved onto Rosuvastatin and this has given me no problems at all. Only on low dose 5mg/day.

Bcol profile image
Bcol

I have noticed that over the last couple of weeks my right hand and wrist is becoming far more painful and stiff to clench my fingers, and thumb. Left hand not as bad. Hand around joints area also slightly swollen. Trying to decide whether it is the PMR or CTS (Poss PMR induced) or just my OA deciding to get in on the act. It doesn't seem to be helped by Co-Codamol but will try upping my baseline dose to double check. I'll need to talk to Doc about my DEXA results when I get them so If nothing improves or gets worse I'll talk to her about it.

Hosers2 profile image
Hosers2 in reply toBcol

Both my wrists, thumbs, index, and middle fingers stiffened up the day I got PMR. Couldn’t close my fingers to touch my palms. No feeling in fingers eventually. Just tingling. That is exactly what happened to me after a couple of years on Simvistatin. Doctors were urging me to have rotator cuff surgery. Then another doc suggested carpal tunnel surgery. As soon as I stopped the statin, all that went away. Five years after that, I was hit all at once with PMR.

Bcol profile image
Bcol in reply toHosers2

This is a new problem for me and I have no reason to believe statins are involved but I will keep an open mind whilst investigating further.

Hosers2 profile image
Hosers2 in reply toBcol

My RA doc shot my wrists with cortisone and I wore wrist braces to bed for a couple of weeks. Haven’t had much of a problem since.

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