hands are stiff and hurting in the morning

[Paperroses]

Its been 3 years since I got pmr and the past several months I feel like its all in my hands now. I do have some upper leg stiffness in the morning . Both legs and hands feel better by mid day. I was down to 4mg pred but increased this past week to 5mg because of getting a mild case of covid. Just wondering if Ill be able to go back down to 4 mg or do I slow taper again ?or just try it?

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Depends on two things really - how unwell you have been with the Covid and whether it is gone and whether it may have triggered a flare having kicked your immune system. If you recover quickly you could try going back to 4mg - up to 10-14 days it won't have made a difference to the adrenal side of things. You have to try to find out.

[Paperroses in reply to PMRpro]

will give it a try

[dancersize2]

Interested to hear about your hand pain. I was diagnosed mid 2017 and finally got off pred early this year. Still on 10mg MTX on rheumy's advice. I also still have inflammation in my hands especially in the morning and have been considering trying a short burst of pred to see if that helps. Probably worse if I've been knitting the previous evening.

[jls93]

Not strange presentation from my experience.. I use mild compression gloves and over the counter wrist splints to support the joints...I donn them before I go to sleep and mornings are much better.