I am a bit befuddled so thought I would turn to The Oracle. Apologies for the epistle.
I have been in gradually increasing pain (the air has become blue) in my groin, right hip and leg since July. I increased my Pred from 5 mg to 10 mg but it had no effect. My doctor (from a telephone conversation - all I can seem to get these days) thought it might be bursitis as I have had it before so referred me for a rheumatologist appointment to see if he would give me an ultrasound-guided injection (have had that before). I spoke to Cigna and they agreed to cover it and make me the appointment. My “usual” rheumatologist, Rod Hughes, who used to look after me before he referred me back to my doctor a few years ago, was not free for a couple of weeks and I was in too much pain to wait so they booked me in with another gentleman, who is now Head of Rheumatology. He seemed very kind and listened to me. He did not want to do an injection without an MRI so he ordered that. The results came back last weekend showing I have a labral tear in my hip so rather than give me an injection he prescribed Etoricoxib for me - 90 mg to start with and 60 mg once the pain had lessened, plus Lansoprazole. The 90 mg has helped somewhat. He referred me to an orthopaedic surgeon who I am seeing this evening to discuss the labral tear.
But what has really confused me is what he said about my PMR. He was very interested in all the details - when and how it was diagnosed and what doses of Pred I had been on and am now on, and how I am feeling now. He said 53 was young to be diagnosed with it, and if I still have it now after 6 years then it is unlikely to be PMR (he said that if anyone still has PMR-like pain after 2 years it is likely to be something else). He said he always goes by blood tests rather than symptoms. He arranged blood tests for me and they came back normal. I was on 10 mg the day they were done but normally I am on 5 mg.
He looked at a Dexascan I had earlier this year, the results of which my doctor had said were “as good as can be expected”, and was very worried - he said my bones are in bad shape, at risk of fracture, and he says I need to get off Pred asap. He said to drop by 1 mg every 4 weeks until zero. I told him I thought it needed to be slower under 5 mg but he said no. He said if I wanted to be under his care he would keep doing blood tests. He said each time I drop to disregard any pain during the first two weeks after the drop and go by how I feel in the second two weeks and also the blood test results. He said once off Pred he could give me local injections for any pain and he really didn’t think I had PMR.
He said I must go on Alendronic Acid asap and has written to my doctor to say so. Having read up on AA I am not keen.
So a lot of what he has said is contradictory to what Dr Hughes has told me before, to what my doc said about my bones and also what I have read on the Forum.
Feeling confused, worried and a bit scared about my bones. I have booked another telephone appointment with my doc to discuss the Dexascan again and also AA.
One thing I would say is that since taking the large doses of Etoricoxib my PMR seems to have improved - so now I am wondering if he is actually right and I no longer have PMR but something else! 🤷🏻♀️
But I am still worried about reducing the Pred as he suggests - I have never managed to get below 4.5 mg without a painful flare (understanding that the pain in the first 2 weeks can be withdrawal).
Any feedback would be very much appreciated. Apologies again for the length of my post.
Susy x
Fosamax (Alendronate) Question
Rheumatologist referral
Rheumatologist appointment 
Alendronic acid & DEXA scan
rheumatologist swapped pred for NSAID
