Mouth ulcers with GCA and prednisone?

[Charkha]

Has anyone experienced problems with persistent mouth ulcers? These have become more frequent as I have reduced my prednisone dosage. I am now down to 6.5 mg prednisone (I have GCA) and have about five ulcers in my mouth right now which is quite painful. I am wondering if anyone has any advice as to how to deal with these. Funnily enough when I was on much higher doses of prednisone the mouth ulcers went away. Thanks much.

[123-go]

I’ve only ever had one or two mouth ulcers in my lifetime and when I was a child but I remember how awful it was and how I constantly complained. Have you asked your pharmacist for advice and mentioning you are taking prednisolone?

Take a look in ‘Related Posts’ for other people’s’ experiences. Here’s something to start with:

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

I hope you get relief soon.

[Charkha in reply to 123-go]

thanks for this. I will certainly check on the info.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Was your GCA diagnosed with a biopsy or on the basis of symptoms?

There are a couple of other forms of vasculitis where oral ulcers are typical and both of them also respond to pred which is used to manage flares. If I were you I would be asking my rheumy if another vasculitis is possible - even if it was found in a biopsy as giant cells can also be seen in one of them.

In the meantime - have you tried folic acid supplements? They might help.

[Charkha in reply to PMRpro]

The GCA was diagnosed with a biopsy. I have an appointment with rheumatologist mid September and I will certainly ask her about this. I had wondered if this could be a possibility as I suffered from mouth ulcers before the problems with GC thanks for letting me know about folic acid supplements. I will try those right away.

[Charlie1boy]

hi,

Can’t answer your question re pred and mouth ulcers, but my wife suffers from mouth ulcers, and uses (bees) Propolis, which, over many years has worked well for her. Don’t know whether you can get that in the USA.

[Charkha in reply to Charlie1boy]

Thanks very much for this information. I will certainly try it.

[Charlie1boy in reply to Charkha]

Good luck.

[2013mayo]

I too have mouth ulcers, I have GCA and PMR, I’m reducing at the moment and as you say I’m getting lots of ulcers, they all went away when I was on a higher dose of pred, I’m now talking 1/2 mg pred and going through a lot of pain. I’ve had folic acid in the past for them so I’m going to give it a go and hope it works.

[Charkha in reply to 2013mayo]

Thanks for reply. Interesting that you have similar experience of them going away on higher doses of prednisone. I am also going to try folic acid. I hve appointment with rheumatologist on Sept 11 so am going to talk to her about it. Will let you know if she has suggestions. Sorry you have a lot of pain. Is it due to being on such a low dose prednisone now?

[Gimme]

I was getting a lot of repeated mouth ulcers over the last few months. At one stage, my whole mouth was sore and blistered and then I twigged that I had developed an allergy to strawberries. Not pred or PMR related for me, at all.

[Charkha in reply to Gimme]

Thanks for replying. Glad you found the cause for your ulcers but sorry it was an allergy to strawberries! No mor strawberries and cream!!!

[Gimme in reply to Charkha]

yup, bit of a bummer, I love strawberries, but I have found out that it is not an uncommon allergy.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Gimme]

I used to itch after strawberries - but with the pred plus Actemra, I can eat them again!!! Though to be honest - I prefer raspberries but they are SOOO expensive here!

[Gimme in reply to PMRpro]

yes, I prefer raspberries too. It's a nuisance though, because of the fructose intolerance, hulled fruit are a safe fruit option for me.

[Spanky2019]

So sorry. This has been ongoing problem for me. My Dr prescribed lidocaine gel (4%??). Helps some.