Increase or Decrease

[Carathedog]

I am currently taking 13mg of steroids. I took your advice before my holiday last week to stay at 13, till after my holiday, I’ve been on 13 for about a month now.

I was in a lot of pain during my holiday, I still am. It’s buttocks, legs down to knees , and right arm.

I also have spinal stenosis and herniated discs. My problem is not knowing what is causing the pain, I thought if I upped the steroids, and the pain went away, then it was a flare,, or I could drop the dose, and see if it gets worse.

I have a doctors appointment on Thursday, I was going to ask for blood tests, although my markers have not been raised in the past.

very grateful for any advice

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Not sure an increase in Pred will be beneficial-buttocks and legs sound more like bursitis or sciatica or similar.

As for arm -not sure about -have you done anything that might be causing that?

[Carathedog in reply to DorsetLady]

Thanks, thinking I might go back to 8 or9, and continue with piriformis stretches

[Viveka in reply to Carathedog]

Have I got this wrong? You're not thinking of going from 13 to 8 or 9 are you?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Viveka]

SHe had been at that dose before what she thought was a flare and added 5mg to deal with the flare. After a month it will need a slightly slower approach but up to 2 weeks it is fine to drop from the "flare dose" straight back to the previous dose.

[Viveka in reply to PMRpro]

Good to know. I thought after a month on higher flare dose it would be back to a regular taper protocol.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Viveka]

Not as slow as the very slow approach - maybe something more like the average GP approach. 12,5 to 10mg is a common steps

[Carathedog in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks, that’s what I’ll do, drop to 10, try and walk a wee bit, and continue with stretches

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Viveka]

On the face of it, if does seem unusual, but sometimes you need to read previous posts to know full story as PMRpro says -following a flare.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

The bum and legs could be PMR-related but possibly not directly (if you see what I mean) - could you manage piriformis stretches? The shoulder sounds something different. But always difficult when there is a potential disc problem.

[Carathedog in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you, I have tried some piriformis stretches, managed most, but bridge was painful, will do more today, thinking that may be the cause

[RachelJDH]

Interestingly I am on the same dose and experiencing something similar. Annoyingly I have a frozen shoulder which becomes painful if I lift too much so not able to do much there. I also have cramping muscles in my gluteus muscles which cause much pain down my right thigh. This does go off gradually through the day but I can feel the knots in the gluteus medius area. I have a telephone consultation with my rheumatologist tomorrow and will ask him about it too. It is certainly a blighter and makes getting downstairs in the morning difficult. I think it is affecting my sciatic nerve. Makes it difficult to taper at the moment too. I will let you know what he says but I am not hopeful....

[Carathedog in reply to RachelJDH]

Thank you, that’s interesting, would appreciate any feedback

[Pixix]

I have bursitis on one side, & sciatica on the other side,.. buttocks, legs down to knees sounds like my sciatica…perhaps enquire about those 2 at your appointment?

[Carathedog in reply to Pixix]

What’s the difference in feeling between the two

[Pixix in reply to Carathedog]

The bursitis pain is chronic, with sharp acute pain if I do anything it doesn’t like, picking up heavy shopping for example, in a small area. The sciatica is more acute more if the time & radiates down a larger area, buttocks, thigh, leg.