‘Cold calf’

[Rancho]

A few days ago one side of my left calf started feeling cold. For a few weeks I’ve had a stretching type feeling behind both knees. I’m on 5mg pred and was on 15mg weekly methotrexate but stopped this a couple of months ago.

Research brings up PAD (peripheral arterial disease) as a possibility but just wondering if PMR which I’ve had for 12 years could be the culprit?

Thanks

[123-go]

May be a side effect of long term Prednisolone ?? Poor circulation?? No harm in getting it checked out, Rancho.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It doesn't have to be a direct effect of PMR _ this

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl....

says

"Patients with polymyalgia rheumatica have been shown to have an increased risk of peripheral arterial disease on longitudinal follow-up. Possible explanations for this include premature atherosclerosis related to chronic inflammation, as with other inflammatory rheumatological conditions. Alternatively, polymyalgia rheumatica can be associated with vasculitis, even in the absence of clinical giant cell arteritis, and peripheral vascular disease may represent subclinical vasculitis"

I suspect PMR that lasts a long time and is maybe not adequately controlled because of the desire to reduce the pred dose may be more likely to result in PAD - although people develop it without every having had PMR.

[Rancho in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you PMRpro, as always expert advice. I’ll be onto GP next week

[Kaaswinkel72]

Deep venous tromboses dvd, could be another possibility.

[Kaaswinkel72 in reply to Kaaswinkel72]

Oops.. dvt deep venous tromboses i mean….

[keeptalking]

Cold and painful (when standing up) legs have been plaguing me all year. Knees in particular feel freezing internally but not to touch!! I am convinced it’s PMR related as it’s almost disappears when I’m feeling good. I’ve seen a vascular man who says nothing wrong. Rheumy says not pmr so where do we go from here. If you get yours sorted please keep us informed.

Good luck.

[Rancho in reply to keeptalking]

Thank you and I'll update once its hopefully clearer what it is

[Amkoffee]

This could also be a DVT. You really should get it checked out at the ED.