Steroid withdrawal

[jaycee444]

Have had Covid just over a week. Test showing now just VERY feint line. Doubled my dose Pred for a week. Yesterday dropped back for first time and this morning both upper arms very sore . As this has occurred so soon does it sound like steroids withdrawal?

[SnazzyD]

Might be, but may well be Covid. If it was up for just a week then perhaps not withdrawal but not impossible if you’re sensitive. Covid hammered my muscles, not in a PMR way but a pain and weakness way for weeks. Did you have any issues with low adrenal function on 6.5mg?

[jaycee444 in reply to SnazzyD]

Fatigue and some muscle aching. Was very difficult to know if it was low adrenals or the PMR. Had a difficult year last year with a lot of stress so have struggled on all counts and never really been pain free. Not going to attempt any further reduction right now.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Probably I'd think - although you would expect it shouldn't really be a problem after such a short time. And as Snazzy says - Covid really goes for muscles and creates inflammation.

What did you go up to?

[jaycee444 in reply to PMRpro]

Went up to 13 mg (double my dose)

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to jaycee444]

Maybe try half and half with a few days between?

[jaycee444]

Sorry PMRpro - dont quite understand ?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to jaycee444]

If you are at 13,go to 10mg for a few days before going back to where you were.

[jaycee444]

Ah….get it. Thank you I’ll try that.

[Blearyeyed]

Personally , I would have increased intially by 10 mg at first but I also wouldn't have stopped the increase in Pred until after I'd done two tests without any visible line at all.I'd go with Pros suggestion alternate , 13 mg , 10 the next for another week then stay on 10 mg until your COVID test is clear. I wouldn't, personally, start tapering back down again until a couple of weeks after your clear COVID tests and then be very careful about pacing your activity while you taper . Post infection bodies do not respond well to change.

The level of increase of inflammation in your joints that is part of COVID takes some time to clear alone so it is very likely that the steroid is helping that as well as reducing the chance of a PMR flare.

Try using paracetamol at the recommended dose and intervals through the day to , if you aren't already and increasing your fluids and Vitamin C , this does help speed up the recovery time with COVID , so by the time you are able to start the taper again hopefully any COVID inflammation has cleared.

[Bcol]

Morning, when I had Covid in October I added 10mg for four days, then dropped to 10mg for two days and then reverted back to my normal dose. That worked for me, but I guess it will depend on how badly and for how long Covid affected you.

[AshPen9]

I didn't up my dose when I had Covid but I probably should have done because I started with a flare just after I began testing negative.