About two weeks ago I began to notice slight swelling in one foot only. Today it is getting quite a bit worse with swelling visible from just below the knee down to the foot. Can prednisone cause swelling on just one side?
My Rheumy is gone for the weekend so I can’t ask her until Monday unless this requires treatment soon.
I know there are many other causes for swelling so it could be unrelated to the prednisone. I’ve been on prednisone for 8 months and have had difficulty tapering. Had to stay on 25mg for a few months but when I got down to 16 was hit with a fairly severe flare and went back to 20. Now down to 16 with 1mg reduction every two weeks.
So you won’t need to check my profile here is the basic information. I’m a 76 year old male and was healthy until PMR got me. On this awesome forum since the beginning - thanks to all of you for making this easier
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OldGolfer
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Not really something I would blame on pred - but I WOULD be getting the doctor to have a look at it! Is it causing pitting if you press firmly on the swollen area?
Sounds exactly like what I've got going on in my legs and one leg in particular. If it is hot and red you need to go to A&E just in case it is a blood clot. I've had it for years now and it's a mystery to all doctors
Something like what I have these last few months.....not legs but one ankle, swollen....bright red feet when I wake up....look like they must be hot....but a're cold!.... .
Don’t think it is that. This only started when I got below 7mg of pred. I don’t have high blood pressure or high sugars. The Dr did a ultrasound of both legs and ankles to test if there was good blood flow and if the blood pressure was the same as in my arms. It usually happens at night or when I get out of the shower. If I keep my feet out of the covers at night that seems to help. Maybe it is the combination of the pre and the PMR.
Don't hang around with something like that. You need to eliminate a DVT. I had exactly the same but it went down to my foot. As PMRpro says, if you press into your ankle does it leave a dent?
Hello OldGolfer, so sorry to hear you are having this worrying sympton, and I do think you need to take this seriously., and get help, today.
My intention on this wonderful forum is to care and share, not to scare. I had similar symptoms to you on Prednisalone (10mg).
I've got PMR and used to ski, cycle and horseride before being struck down with this awful PMR disease. (diagnosed August 2019). I'm obviously not saying this is the case for yourself, but I had a pulminary embolism in Jan 2020. I've since learnt we are 8 times more likely to get a clot on prednisalone.
"Steroids also increase the risk that blood clots will form in blood vessels, potentially disrupting blood flow and damaging the heart muscle, so that it does not pump blood effectively"
Since then, two things happened, my left leg became red, shiney, hairless, plus my ankle swollen white puffy, like dough. , I thought maybe it was full of water, so thought my heart must not be pumping properly to get water away?
I remembered that my maternal Grandfather had Phlebitis so I've always been aware of that condition... my left shin skin is red with no heat, hairless and shiney, no pain but at times horrific veinous itching which I can't get to because its not a surface skin itch, it's in the veins. Again, not to scare you, but to make you aware of this condition, here are the symptoms:
"Phlebitis (fle-BYE-tis) is a condition in which a vein becomes inflamed (phleb=vein + it is=inflammation). The inflammation may cause pain and swelling. When the inflammation is caused by a blood clot or thrombus, it is called thrombophlebitis."
Most importantly OldGolfer is to be informed and it never hurts to ring 111 to get their professional take on your conditon, especially as its the weekend and you can't ge to your doctor or Rheumatologist, it may give you condfidence as to how to proceed with immediate effect, until you can get to your usual support structure.
I hope this helps and pray it's nothing serious, and you find what is causing your symptoms, in the minefield that is PMR and Pred's horrific collatoral damage. Very best wishes for a speedy solution, Polly.
Hi again OG, I just picked up on your Pred reduction regime 1mg per month, and if you will allow me to say, this may be too fast and may cause more flares. May I suggest you consider the prefererred weapon of choice on this forum, which is the DSNS method, 'dead slow, nearly stop.' It realy works. PMR managent is a marathon not a sprint. Have safe weekend, P
I’m in the ER right now. Probable diagnosis is Deep Vein Thrombosis. Doing some imaging soon. Should be okay but I should have come sooner. Thanks for all the help.
Have you admitted to them you were told that 5 days ago!!!!!
Hope its OK - my husband fidgeted with leg discomfort for a couple of months - and one morning walked into the bedroom with a swollen leg that as a clinical consultant he should have KNOWN needed checking. So at work he asked a technician to have a look with u/s - and an hour later was ringing me rather shamefacedly to say he'd been admitted! The upshott has been warfarin and full length compression stockings for life - but that has prevented recurrences.
responsibility when I screw up! Not sure why though. I just got home from the hospital and swelling is mostly gone. Sonogram first found “very large” clot in the femoral area, then open MRI found smaller clots already in the lungs. Echocardiogram shows no problems in the heart. I really didn’t have far to go to a very serious problem, possibly fatal. I need to get my act together with this old age thing - a lot can go wrong now.
Yup - same story for my OH, large femoral clot, always harder long term than a calf one and why he has to wear stockings rather than just socks. Luckily he's always cold ...
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