Still in pain

[jaycee444]

In my last post I was getting stressed about having a flare whilst trying to reduce from 7 to 6.5 mg simply because I am due to go into Hospital at the end of April for a hip replacement.. I followed advice and went back up to 11mg for 7days then back down to 7mg but it hasn’t really worked. Although my symptoms are nowhere near as bad as they were when I was first diagnosed I am not in the pain free place that I have become accustomed to whilst taking Prednisolone. My shoulders, upper arms, hips and upper thighs are still painful. I’m not sure where I can go from here as I cant increase again after such a short time. …. I am worried that it might scupper my operation which Ive been waiting so long for.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Speak to the surgical team. There are plenty on the forums who had hip surgery on 10mg and if that is what you need to be able to mobilise post-op which is really important that is what you need.

[MrsNails]

As Pro says it’s really important you can mobilise after Surgery - l think Orthopods in general are a bit ‘iffy’ about patients being on Pred but really you need to be in a good place. If anyone was in an RTA (Road Traffic Accident) & they had to operate there wouldn’t be an option……

Their main concern is healing - that’s what really bothers them the most but you need your shoulders & arms to be strong to help with your recovery.

As Pro says have a word with the Team to come up with a plan for the surgery.

Wishing you all the very best 🍀

MrsN

I had major surgery at 7.5mg - l had hydrocortisone cover in Theatre & Post Operatively then they rang my Rheumatologist for advice & she increased me to 10mg x 2weeks; then after that l had Chemo…..

[piglette]

Perhaps you should have dropped in two stages back to 7mg. You probably still could increase a bit. What does your surgeon say?

[Hidden]

Like you, I managed to get to 6.5mg a flare arose so back up to 8mg. I've found that my arms and shoulders are still painful even on 10mg. To think back in Dec 2019 after diagnosis on started on 15mg all pain went within an hour, I couldn't believe it. Into third year now and so disappointed !! Good luck with your surgery. My hubby is currently waiting for both of his hips to be replaced and in so much pain.

[Miserypants]

I had my hip done whilst on 9.5mg with no problems at all.

[granofthewest]

My pain is no longer under control either I'm sorry to say. I upped my dose from 1mg to 5mg, then after consulting GP was advised to raise to 7.5 mg. Still not worked so another GP has raised it to 15mg but still have pain in my right hip. I wish you all the best with your operation. Maybe we'll both eventually find the dose to keep the pain away.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to granofthewest]

But you do have to distinguish between pain due to PMR and due to something else. Pred doesn't deal with everything equally well.