The last couple of days I’ve increased my Pred dosage from 4 mg up to 10 as I was experiencing pain in my shoulders and didn’t know if it was PMR or not, so thought I’d up the dosage for a few days to see how things went.
However, 2 days in and yesterday one of my fingers swelled up and this morning another one is going the same way.
Has anyone else had any experience of this or am I just a fluke? (My husband always says I’m unique 🤣!)
Swollen or "sausage" fingers can be a symptom of certain forms of inflammatory arthritis - which MAY present looking just like PMR in some patients. It is probably something to check out with your doctor.
I checked with my GP today about the swollen fingers and he said to slowly taper down again from the increased 10, reducing by 1mg a week! I’ve only been on the 10mg for 5 days (from my previous 4mg).
He said he was telling me this regime as he was “following the guidelines” but I could do what I want! I don’t know whether to continue with thr 10mg for another couple of days or reduce immediately.
My fingers haven’t gone down and I don’t want them to increase any more!
My pain has significantly reduced by the increase in the Pred, but I don’t want to continue with swollen fingers.
Any advice please?
If it hasn't helped there is no reason for you not to just go back to the old dose.
Where in the name of goodness to they get their "guidelines" from - You can take any dose of pred for a week and stop - no need to taper. TEN WEEKS to get off 10mg pred????
I thought that when he said it. He’s a new doctor at the surgery and sounds like he’s doing things “from the book”.
5mg tomorrow it will be then and hopefully the water retention will dissipate.
Oh, and I asked for an allergy test to find the cause of my itching skin, but he said a higher dosage of Pred can mask things, so I’ve got to wait 2 weeks from being back on my original dose before they can do a blood test. Hmmm....
It will damp it down if it is an allergy - any rash to be seen? Take pictures of everything you can - may come in handy,
Odd red areas which causes the itching. I’ve already sent in pics to them last week but the nursing practitioner put it down to dry skin🙄
Replied in previous thread, but as PMRpro says best to get it checked….
Balancing symptoms and pred dosage?
Tapering pred and 'safe' dosage
Split Pred dosage
Flare and increasing Pred?
INCREASING PRED! 
