Not fair!

[Amkoffee]

I woke up this morning with crushing fatigue and mind-boggling pain. It took me a little bit before I realized that my PMR is back. I put a call into my rheumatologist for a prescription for 20 mg prednisone. Can anyone tell me about how long it took for the pain to subside after starting prednisone. I honestly cannot remember from my first time with this but it seems like it only took a day or two at most.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Oh bad luck!!!

For me it was under 6 hours. But some people take longer - and if this is a recurrence after a period of remission all bets are off. The one constant I hear from those who have had it twice is that the second time bore little resemblance to the first time!

[Gimme in reply to PMRpro]

Do you mean that the pattern of the illness was different the second time, or that the pred did not work as well the second time? Hope not the second of those two.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Gimme]

The pattern - though in some cases they needed more pred and tapering was different. One lady started with 30mg the first time and said it was a doddle, the second time the docs were scared of pred, started her on 15mg and it wasn't as easy.

[Sharitone]

For me, the first time, on 15mg, there was a noticeable improvement the very next day.

Last month, after 5 months of no pred, I was in such a stiff place that I illicitly took 12mg and within a few hours - yippee!

[autumnlass]

What rotten luck… I’ll never forget the PMR day - July 6 2020 - GP prescribed 15 mg of Pred. Had the packet in my hot little hand and took 1st dose at 3.15pm … noticed the crippling pain had slightly remitted by 7.30 that evening … by next day a bit better .. but a whole month for it to really go. Hope it works fast for you. 🥲

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to autumnlass]

Not sure of the date - but I took my 15mg at 10.15am standing outside the chemist before crawling home to the computer. At 4pm I stood up and walked downstairs, made tea and carried the mug upstairs - and then realised what I had done, walked down normally, not stomping like a toddler, and didn't crawl back up on hands and knees!!!

[autumnlass in reply to PMRpro]

Well you managed to get to the chemist!! 👏 My chemist is 495 steps away and I couldn’t get there! One of the pharmacists team very kindly trecked those steps and delivered them to my front door! I popped 3 out on the kitchen table and thought to myself … I never thought I’d take steroids! Went back to bed & got up at 7.30 to make a fruit tea! Just ate porridge for a week! The upside was I lost nearly 2 stone! Needed to anyway! 😃

[Hunter134]

The first time was about a week to see it was working.Second time about the same but the 2nd time for me has been really hard to taper.Maybe it's age I don't know.It was 9 yrs in remission.Hope you have better luck🌺

[Lonsdalelass in reply to Hunter134]

9 years in remission! Wow. That must have been so hard when it came back. Such bad luck 😩.

[Charlie1boy in reply to Lonsdalelass]

Kirby Lonsdale?

[Lonsdalelass in reply to Charlie1boy]

No, more north cumbria.

[Charlie1boy in reply to Lonsdalelass]

Ah. I hail from Sedbergh, which I guess you’ll know. My Dad taught at the school there.

God’s own country, or am I biased?

[Lonsdalelass in reply to Charlie1boy]

Yes, definitely. It takes some beating.

[darkred in reply to Lonsdalelass]

It's disappointing to learn that it can return, even after much time has passed. I still think my second time had to do with extreme stress.

[Lonsdalelass in reply to darkred]

I'm holding on to the hope that mine won't.....just retired so hoping my stress levels will behave. I still get some aches, in my upper arms, which is strange but painkillers usually put it to bed, and I remind myself that we're all getting a bit older 🧓 😅

[Gimme]

First time, on 15mg, I started to feel some relief after a couple of hours, moving fairly freely within a few hours and woke up the next morning totally pain free. I am extremely responsive to pred.

[pammy_hyland]

About 3 -4 hours ..it happened to me a good few years ago now and I managed to taper to 4mg and have been on a maintenance dose of 4mgs for years now ..This works fantastically well for me.. .I'm never going back there again..its quality of life versus one big struggle..Good luck xx

[Mansplainer101]

Overnight. Went to bed with PMR; woke up w/o it. Honestly! That fast.

[Missus835]

Pretty much overnight relief at 20 mg. Had popped the pred at the pharmacy in the afternoon. Then over the next couple of days, pain was gone. Energy overload, but managed to declutter the whole apartment. Best of luck Amkoffee.