Diagnose in January this year . Come down to 24,mg by August & was reducing by 2mg every 5 weeks. Had morning &, evening stillness & small amounts of pain but was reasonably happy how I was doing. In August hurt my back lifting mum’s wheelchair got stuck in gravel. She very light . Next day massive pain in back proper sciatica. Pain in back to start with. Now 2 months later pain is in hips & legs & is terrible when I get up for a hour or two & calms down in day & comes back at night. I know you can have both conditions but my question to you is this . Would you up your dose & by how much. Last week I went from 24 to 30 for 3 days no difference. The other problem is last few weeks developing moon face & feet swollen. Doctor said it’s Sciatica & to come back to 24,mg . Feet now drained but seem to go up & down . Also up every 2 hours a night ie 3/4 a night & double the amount of times I need to urinate . Since August I’m in a terrible mess I’m also a carer & I feel useless. Emotions & fatigue have become worse. Please help
Thank you
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Vito5566
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For a start, your sciatic pain needs treating in a targeted manner - more oral pred is unlikely to sort it out, good physio and possibly local steroid injections would be far better. One cause of sciatica is due to piriformis syndrome - tightness of the piriformis muscle which pinches the sciatic nerve - and that is not uncommon alongside PMR as myofascial pain syndrome is also often part of PMR and is thought to be part of the pathology.
These are excellent links explaining it and the third gives good exercises to try:
Thank you so much PMRpro for this explanation! I've been having pain in my butt and pain that feels like at the end of my spine, my tail bone. This does sound like piriformis syndrome. I went on line and will try some of the exercises shown. I hope this helps you too Vito5566!
I am sorry you are feeling so awful. Pain is very difficult to manage and debilitating in itself. Pmrpro has addressed this. Have you discussed the nocturnal need to urinate with your GP and had it checked? Other elements like the moon face can be mitigated with a low carb diet, as I am sure you will have read on here.
Being a carer when you are feeling like this is not easy. If there is any help available, do take it, at the least until you are feeling a bit better. Sometimes it feels as though everything is out of control - body, mind etc and a lack of sleep all adds into us feeling very down. Try to get some rest when you can and tackle little bits at a time.
I get sciatic pain which is very different to PMR pain. Sometimes just breathing hurts with the sciatic pain! I find that the only thing that helps is physio and exercise. I have not found any drugs that are of any use so far.
Hi I do agree with you. The first hour after getting up is the worse almost can’t move . But it does loosen up after . Walking I grit my teeth & do a little . Thanks for your advice
Definitely sciatic was told . Given some stretching to do which has helped & wants me to see rheumatologist . I’m back in tomorrow with doctors again keep u posted
So I found exercises helped for a little while along with heat & cold . But sciatic loves to mess about . The other day I felt the straightest I been in months with little pain. Next day sheer’s agony again. So I got a plan A & B . Tomorrow I’m trying acc puncture. Will give it 2-3 goes . If that fails back to doctors but I’m optimistic about tomorrow. I let you know
Sciatic pain can be horrendous, round the clock, and you have my sympathy. If you are in such pain, on pred, and not sleeping, then your emotions will be in be in a sorry state. though I'm sure the person you care for does not think you are useless.
Being as you are still working age, I'm hoping that you are getting all the financial help available to you and the person you care for, such as PIP or Attendance Allowance and Carer's Allowance? Would it be possible to get someone else to take some of the practical strain for a while?
Ahh thanks for the kind words. We do get help but I had to stop work to be a full time paid carer so is a drop in money but we get by just . Sadly family is small so down to me . I’m seeing doctor Thursday to discuss Phiso & help for back . Also need to ask about help for sleep & toilet. Had blood & kidney function test all clear
Will be thinking of you. I hope it is piriformis, and therefore can be helped, but if it is the ordinary sciatica, then be assured, it will eventually improve. I was told it would carry on getting better for up to 2 years, but actually, it did continue to improve even after that - and has never been so bad again since, not even with PMR.
HI,I sympathize with you,I also have sciatic pain down my right leg as well as the wonderful PMR!I think your problems could more mechanical in nature ,especially with you saying that you're urinating more thru the night.Is it more frequent during the day too??I think you should ask the doc to consider this.Hope you feel better soon.
Hi thanks for your reply . If I’m out of the house I seem to go back to normal with my toilet visit. But once home it’s every two hours. Seeing doctor this week regarding my back and will ring doctor today about other problems. Appreciate your help
i completely understand. It sounds like PMR, not sciatica. I had sciatica, involving a pinched nerve going down my left hIp and leg. It starts to burn. You must unpinch the nerve. A chiropractor helped me and it went away after 3 manipulations. My Internist who is great and really listens, bumped me up to 30mg of Prednisone for a month. I was down to 19mg but started having excruciating pain again. At this time, she also started me on LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone) and Cymbalta. They both help immensely with pain and more, look them up on WebMD or Mayo Clinic website. The idea is that once these 2 news really kick in, we can go back to tapering the Prednisone for good. I have felt 98% less pain everywhere. A little nausea, but that is supposed to stop after 2 weeks. Good luck 👍
I suddenly developed dreadful back pain and sciatica about three years ago. The doctor kept saying physio, physio and eventually I had to say it had gone on long enough. An xray revealed anterolisthesis . In other words one of my vertebra had become displaced. I had a referral to the pain consultant and eventually a steroid injection. I would like to say Vito that you need to press for further investigation into the root cause of your pain and as you are a carer this should be a priority with your doctor. A lot of my pain was due to the muscles going into spasm and it ha settled down now. I think that once we know what is wrong it is easier to deal with.
I hope you will get an xray as you may have damaged your spine when the wheelchair got stuck. You should get referred to a pain consultant at some stage. Best Wishes.
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