I felt small pain a week ago so I went from 5 to 8. Helped a little. 2 days ago I got really wobbly, bumped a wall a couple times. Yesterday morning I fell while walking my dog, one of my original symptoms. Took four tries to get up with great pain.
I took 20 on top of the 8 I had already taken that morning and was much better in 2 hours. This morning I took 10mg. Was that enough or should I go up further before starting a new taper? I hate falling!
10mg should be OK to knock the PMR on the head. How are you now? If you stay on 10mg say for a week or so and ensure you feel OK you can probably do quite a big drop say 3mg or more and see how that goes. Then carry on reducing.
Shouldn’t think you will need more than 10mg....usual recommendation is to add 5mg to dose you last felt okay -so if that was 5mg you’re spot on. Plus extra you took yesterday. But do stay on 10mg long enough to sort things out, suggest 7-10 days before you drop back down- you should be okay to go down to 6mg and then restart tapering proper .
If the flare is due to having tried to go to too low a dose at 5mg, 10mg should be enough. YOu can stay at 10mg for a week to 10 days and drop back to a lower dose without a taper if it was just from overshooting. But DON'T go back to the dose you flared at, stick a bit higher for now.
I agree with the others. That was however, a really big increase to put you right and the fall is concerning. I would urge you to see your doctor about this.
I will call her Monday, but no crisis right now. I must have fallen 15 times before diagnosis. Saw my GP and followed his referral to an orthopedist. Took numerous -rays and scans, even tried a cortisol injection the in my right hip to no avail. Since the pain shifted from place to place nothing helped. Not sure where he got the inspiration but he gave me 40 mg of pred which stopped the pain overnight and referred me to a rheumatologist. She enlightened me about PMR and started a prednisone series and everything has been okay until we started on reductions. Should be good soon.
"Since the pain shifted from place to place nothing helped"
How do you mean the pain shifted about?
Shifting pain usually indicates polymyalgia rheumatica rather than PMR
Um - PMR is polymyalgia rheumatica ...
Do you mean Palindromic Rheumatica re shifting pain?
Yes, it is what I have
I was doing physical therapy because I complained of weakness especially in my legs. When the PT gave me exercises it hurt so bad I couldn’t do them but as I reported the pain, sometimes it was on one side and sometimes on the other. He got tired of me changing my mind about which side was worse each time so he referred me to the orthopedist who couldn’t tell either. I never considered both because he and I were both looking at bone or tendon specifically. I give him credit for not just giving up but referring me to the rheumatologist. She caught on quickly because she ordered sed rate and CRP and both were elevated.
Was the fall due to loss of balance?
Think it was more muscle weakness, but the slightest mis-step got me started and I couldn’t catch it in time. Guess that is loss of balance. Never had much dizziness but I’m not very self-aware so who knows. Just know that getting up by myself was sometimes almost impossible. You should have seen my 5 year old twin granddaughters trying to help - so cute!
Just a consideration here, and definitely not wanting to worry you, but my father used to have random falls which were actually because of the Parkinson’s he was eventually diagnosed with, pretty sure he also had undiagnosed PMR for a long time, typical stubborn man who wouldn’t see the doctor, as well and was unable to get up as he got older due to the pain.
Might be something to explore with your GP, just a thought but the falling is a worry
What do the majority of doctors know about PMR? I saw six doctors before finding one who suggested it might be PMR
On the back of a lot of research I was able to prove (a lot of print outs) to the rheumatologist that I have palindromic rheumatism instead of PMR
I like 'pain crisis' might use that at my next appt!!
Thanks to all of you. I’ll check back here when I find out more - if I do!
Agree, you have to plan the drama too so you are ready when you get to see them.
Flare has subsided--now what?
Flare-up this morning but don't know why
What PMR looks like on the inside
is this a flare?
I’ve not had a flare up before now!
