Heavy head and tiredness

Hello,

After an initial burst of energy, I've decided to opt for an easier life. I've had a heavy, slightly achey head and I have felt crashingly tired and weak.

This was followed one evening, when I was happily sitting in my armchair👀 , by lightheadedness to the point of nearly losing consciousness. I have had this before, but rarely. It could perhaps be caused by a chute in blood pressure ? I'm OK now, except for the other symptoms and the extreme tiredness that is slowing me down. Is this due to problems with the adrenal glands ? The heat is not helping,though normally I Iike it. I'm having blood tests next week to check on PMR. I've been putting this off. I'm still on 7mg after 1 month and a half as I'm not sure that reducing now would be a good idea. Some of your good advice would be helpful.

I hope you had a lovely birthday by the way and lots of cake. My family have birthdays going through the whole of August, all Leos including my husband.😀

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It could be adrenal insufficiency - but I had similar episodes at intervals for some time. They never occured while a cardiac Holter monitor was in use of course and they were dismissed until I had one while standing - and collapsed, hitting my head. I was admitted to the local hospital where they gave me i.v. diazepam which triggered a major atrial fibrillation episode. Being attached to an ECG machine for that, they discovered I was having bradycardias (slow heart beat) that went well below 40 bpm and the pauses were sometimes long enough to cause the symptoms. They wouldn't let me home until I had had a pacemaker fitted.

It is always worth getting them to check these things out - but it's no use unless they catch it on a recorder of some sort!

[Hidden in reply to PMRpro]

Oh dear, not good. Sorry to hear that you had such a bad time. I was checked out for palpitations, before PMR, probably stress related at the time and had loads of tests. They did find that I had bigeminy, which is not worrying. In France they diagnosed a heart murmur, also not a problem. Your bad experience has made me more resolved to lead as relaxed a life (as possible) and change my ambitions to painting and gardening, as I still have palpitations from time to time, which increase my heart rate.

Look after yourself, we appreciate you so much and I wish you good health and a relaxed life in the future.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

My palpitations are almost certainly due to the autoimmune part of the PMR having damaged the electrical cells in the heart that govern heart rate. They started about the same time as the first PMR symptoms.

[Hidden in reply to PMRpro]

Certainly palpitations are unpleasant. My palpitations started before the polymyalgia diagnosis. Before this I got my first outbreak of eczema (also I believe an auto immune thing) and got my PMR shortly after my first Covid jab. My rheumi found the latter quite interesting, but I didn't pursue it. I can only hope that nothing else is going on in the State of Denmark 👀

Re: yourself, thank you for your information. A calm life seems to be on the agenda and I wish you the same.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Maybe have a read through this link about adrenals...healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

..and maybe stay put for a bit longer unless blood test back, and its going to be another warm week...

[Hidden in reply to DorsetLady]

Thank you Dorset Lady. Some of the adrenal symptoms seem to fit 👀. Certainly this heat doesn't help ........

[piglette]

You are on quite a high dose to get adrenal fatigue although it does start around 7mg. I found it is not a good idea to reduce until you feel less tired.

[Viv54]

Its strange you should mention the heat ! I am a true sun lover , lived in Spain for 12 years and loved it. But now i am full of aches and pains, plus it drains me and i over heat ,i find it very difficult to cool down, and shall be so happy when the Autumn comes , cant believe i just said that !

[Hidden in reply to Viv54]

I got quite acclimatised in Italy, years ago, so enjoyed the hot weather this year at first, not now. I can only think that the heat here is different, more humid, either that or it's the polymyalgia !

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

Totally different - I get days here in the mountains which are a bit UK-ish, usually after a massive heat-breaking thunderstorm, where the humidity is above 70% instead of the more usual under 30% and I suffer. Hot and dry (upper 20s), cold and dry (-10C) is fine. less hot, less cold and damp - no thanks!

[Hidden in reply to PMRpro]

There you are then, we’ve not got the right sort of heat 😓

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

Story of the UK: the wrong sort of weather, from heat to sun to snow ...

[Sharitone in reply to PMRpro]

Not to mention our Scandinavian genes!

[herdysheep in reply to Hidden]

🤣

[Viv54 in reply to Hidden]

Yes to both !😊

[Hidden in reply to Viv54]

Oh the joys 👀

[Smithie49]

I was interested to read your post as my symptoms have been similar recently. Heavy head, dizziness and tiredness if I overexert. I am also on 7mg having found reducing to 6 really increased my neck stiffness. My PMR started last June when it was lovely hot weather and my symptoms are worse again with this hot spell. Is there a connection?

My reflux is also causing me a lot of discomfort and not drinking wine for the past 2 weeks hasn't improved anything. I might go and get a bottle!!!! Swallowing itself is no trouble but it feels like food gets stuck at the top of my oesophagus and no amount of water will shift it. None of this is really stopping me from doing what I want but it is miserable. Is this all just a part of growing old that I should accept or ....?!

[LozzaSandstrom in reply to Smithie49]

You might need to be on Lanzoprazole I am on 15mg a day and a bottle of wine a day!! I struggle with the head nowadays and also used to love it but put it down to menopause - I laughed at my overweight stepmother for years fanning herself and "glowing" only to find I have turned into her albeit a much funnier and engaging version!

[Smithie49 in reply to LozzaSandstrom]

Thanks Lozza. Lansoprazole was working well for me until it caused diarrhoea. Omeprazole didn't suit me at all. I thought I'd go back to a few weeks using Peptac but it isn't really helping other than for a short while after taking it. Might try a Zantac as I have some in the cupboard

[LozzaSandstrom in reply to Smithie49]

Yes - do you have the coated tablets? I have had them before but you can't split them if you need to - they are supposed to be antacid and help with reflux - i would hate to have to give the wine up!!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to LozzaSandstrom]

Enteric coated pred isn't antacid - the coating makes them resistent to stomach acid so they pass through to the duodenum before being broken down and absorbed.

[LozzaSandstrom in reply to PMRpro]

Yes sorry

[Hidden in reply to Smithie49]

Hello Smithie, Never accept things as just growing old, that's the sure way to become old ! The PMR could be reacting to the heat, as it does seem to react to stress of any kind. I'm not sure about the swallowing as it doesn't seem to be caused by dehydration. Have a word with your chemist or doctor if you can. It doesn't sound serious, but obviously you can't go on with it. There could be a simple solution.😃

[AshPen9 in reply to Smithie49]

With regard to your swallowing problem, I have something that sounds similar. I did tell someone on this forum about it a few weeks ago, and I can't remeber if it was you, so if I've told you about this already just ignore me! I thought it might be helpful to you though. I take tablets and then feel as if they're stuck for hours. I had a barium swallow recently and although it showed a small pharyngeal pouch at the back of my throat, they thought that this was too small to be the cause of problem. However they did find that my throat muscles were in spasm, it happens in people who have reflux. The treatment is either Botox, or a procedure to stretch (😲), neither of which have a high success rate. I was recommended to go to a therapist to get some exercises. Good luck with getting it sorted, and enjoy your 🍷!

[Smithie49 in reply to AshPen9]

Many thanks Ashpen. Maybe the wine will relax it 😀

[AshPen9 in reply to Smithie49]

Always worth a try!!

[Grannymiaow]

Ask to have your sodium levels checked when they do the blood test (if it's not already on the list) as low sodium causes tiredness, and really low sodium levels can cause a dramatic plummet of blood pressure, leading to collapse. As I found out in May.Good luck.

Aren't we lucky to have this forum?

[Hidden in reply to Grannymiaow]

Thank you Grannymiaow. I’m making an appointment for an ESR test so will enquire about this. Sorry about your nasty experience in May, hopefully all is well now. Yes, this forum is wonderful.

[Viveka]

Sorry to suggest the obvious, but do you have a bp monitor and a pulse monitor to keep an eye on things?

[Hidden in reply to Viveka]

Yes I do thank you, I don’t always have them to hand though, I will be more sensible in future 😊

[MiloCollie]

My simple response just from own experience is don’t reduce pred if you are unwell or about to have tests. I also don’t reduce just before a mini break or holiday so I stay ok. It’s ok to stay on a dose a bit longer than you thought if you feel ok on it. Good luck with your blood tests.

[Hidden in reply to MiloCollie]

Thank you MiloCollie. I’m staying on 7mg until I feel a bit better.

[Whitner]

Bluepuddy it's always so tricky figuring out if what's going on is prednisone reduction related, PMR related or age related!!! I am down to 1.5 mg and when I tried previously to reduce I had a flare in my shoulders. My complaint today is my thighs and muscles in my rear end! It's a weird soreness, like I've done a huge number of squats! The thigh tightness makes my knees weak. I've decided to hold at 1.5 mg for as long as I feel this way. I hope you feel better soon and I agree that you need to rest between some activity to get the blood flowing. I seem to feel better on the days I exercise.

[Hidden in reply to Whitner]

I do stretching exercises for pain in lower back, given by my physio some years ago. I do them once a day. It helps. Thank you for your kind wishes. I feel a bit better today.

[Whitner in reply to Hidden]

Yes thank you, I do stretches as well and they make a big difference!

[PMR2011]

May want to have your inflammatory markers checked if you haven’t already. Stiff neck, heavy head, butt kicking fatigue, an intermittent dry cough and hoarseness when tired were my main GCA symptoms. Diagnosed about 6 years into my PMR journey. My markers were rather high. The jumble of symptoms one gets when below 10mg can be so confusing!

[Hidden in reply to PMR2011]

Will check ECR tomorrow, also adrenaline and saline levels. Hopefully those will indicate what’s going on. Thank you.