This may seem like a daft question……

[jaycee444]

I have an arthritic hip - have had one replacement and am on the list waiting for the second. ( I did get the chance of a referall earlier this year to a hospital over 40 miles away but the logistics of travelling to and from with no-one nearby who could help proved extremely stressful so I referred back to my local waiting list)

I have noticed that at higher of Prednisolone my hip was far less painful - obvious I guess as arthritis is an inflammatory disease. As my dose has lowered so my pain increased in my hip too but was again alleviated during a flare when Pred was increased for a while..

My question is…. Is the fact that Prednisolone is working on two fronts (three in my case as I also have Ulcerative Colitis which it has certainly helped) a factor in making it more difficult to taper on the PMR front - ie my daily dose is working harder so will take longer to taper???? Sorry if I haven’t explained this very well but hoping someone might have some ideas?

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It isn't really working harder - just multitasking by generally relieving inflammation. What is different is which of all those needs is shouting loudest about the dose being reduced. And so which needs more than the new reduced dose. It might be the UC that would like you to stay at a higher dose - but the pain associated with it that returns may be the stress that makes the PMR symptoms worse too. Does that make sense?

[jaycee444 in reply to PMRpro]

Absolutely…. Its swings and roundabouts I guess. All these things seem to interplay. I am on Mesalazine for my UC and my Dr did mention to me that may be part of the reason that my inflammatory markers are never raised much.

[pegpowell]

I was given a steroid shot in my bursa muscle when hip op was delayed to relieve the pain for three months, with the option of another shot if there was another three month wait.