PMR symptoms have flared since the booster

[Bobbikins]

I had the booster on fifth of November and have had increased pain and tiredness. Rheumatologist recommended not upping my dose of Pred due to omicron high numbers. She said it would settle down and to take painkillers but it doesn’t seem to be working.

[Blearyeyed]

What dose are you on currently ?Does this feel like a PMR flare after having a reaction to the vaccination or do you have other symptoms as well?

Which booster vaccination did you take?

Do you think you may have had some other underlying infection at the time of your booster or not long after it?

Have you been doing extra activity or had more stress over the two months which could have contributed to your PMR symptoms increasing?

[SheffieldJane]

I tend to think that the booster jabs don’t directly cause a flare of symptoms . I do think that it can be a final straw after a few stressful blows though - physical and emotional. Sick day rules may help prevent a full flare and the necessity to permanently increase your dose of Prednisalone. A stitch in time. It’s what I’d do.

[piglette]

Have you tried a painkiller to see if it helps? If it doesn't it possibly means you are on too low a dose of steroids.

You say “Rheumatologist recommended not upping my dose of Pred due to omicron high numbers.” Why does the high Omicron high numbers have anything to do with your pred dose???

[DianeMills]

Unfortunately I’m hearing this a few times on here that the booster is causing some disruption. Try if you can just taking pain killers because if you up the steroids it takes so long to come off them especially when your tapering which you have to do very slowly indeed.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hi

If the painkillers aren’t working, which you seem to imply, it might be worth considering a very small increase.

You seem to have been stuttering for the last few months, so maybe the booster was the final straw to nudge a minor flare.

Are you still on 2.5mg as mentioned 3 months ago?

You might find that just an extra mg is enough to settle things…could try that for 5-7 days to see, if not it might require a bit more. But always worth a small increase initially….and then review the situation.

[Bobbikins in reply to DorsetLady]

Thank you to everybody who has responded. It’s so appreciated, particularly now that I don’t have a rheumatologist. I upped my dose from 2.5 to 3 mg of prednisolone just before Christmas.I’m finding the muscle pain is in my legs and

hips.

Wishing everybody a happy New Year.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Bobbikins]

That certainly sounds like a flare…how about trying 5mg for about a week, seeing if that helps. If it does, you should then be able to drop back down 3mg without an issue.

Doubt there’s much difference covid-wise between 5mg and 3mg, but there may well be PMR-wise.

[Pixix]

Had mine the same day as you! I’ve been struggling, too, but I don’t think mine is connected to the booster…I think it’s connected to being on a dose below 5mg! Got down to 3mg once & feet dreadful for 3 weeks (but not around a jab time!) I’m still finding days of 4mg tough, but 5mg is OK. I have a doctors appointment next week to get his views. I think I will be trying 4.5mg !! I think the higher dose you’re on, the more likely you’ll get a worse time if you get Covid, maybe? Hence the comment re dosage?!

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I was OK after the first jab, flared after the second - and have felt far better since my third!! It's all a bit mixed I think!

However - if painkillers don't work for PMR pain (and they rarely do) I don't see how she thinks they will help if it is a flare in disease activity and so inflammation. I agree with some of the other comments - sometimes the jabs do cause flares but I also suspect that it is alongside other things going on for us at the same time.

[nuigini]

Hi Bobbikins, I see you've been at this for almost as long as I have, but I've never even got close to 2.5 mg.

Personally, I would err on the side of caution and consider it a flare. I doubt .5 mg will do the trick. You are the one to decide how far to go based on your own self awareness and history. The sick day rules would put you up to 10 mg for a week, general direction for a flare is an increase of 5 mg.

I recently had a massive flare in early December, two weeks after a Pfizer booster, but I had other things going on, including a UTI (on antibiotics), air travel , and stopping a second type of steroid medication. As PMRpro says, we all have different things going on.

Feel better soon.

[Purplecrow]

I think my second Covid shot, and my booster both caused Pmr flares. After the booster, I had a flu jab, and really experienced symptoms. I boosted pred by extra 5 meg a day which helped.I reduced my extra dose by 3.5 mg and currently take total of 6 mg daily.