PMR bilateral presentation question

[Lydia08]

Last week I decreased on Monday from 5 mg to 4. First day was fine. Second day I woke to a swollen painful left knee. Did not want to bend; very tender to the touch. I anticipated problems with the right knee. That didn’t happen. In addition to feeling all over crumby,I began to experience some serious pain in my RIGHT shoulder. I’ve gone back to 5 mg and for a day it seemed better but today left knee/right shoulder were tormenting me again.

It’s my understanding that pain is usually bilateral so this made no sense to me. Then it occurred to me that the opposite shoulder and knee (right and left respectively) have both had total replacements. Wondering what your thoughts are. Funny coincidence or is it a possibility that replacements aren’t as susceptible to PMR?

Or, of course, something entirely different.

Best

Pat

[PMRpro Ambassador]

PMR affects the attachments of the muscles to bones - not sure how that works in a joint replacement!

It isn't uncommon for PMR to reappear on one side first and the other side to catch up later. And it does seem to pick on your weak spots. However, I suggest you try to reduce in smaller steps at these low doses. A basic rule is to only reduce 10% of the current dose at a time - you just tried 20%!

[Lydia08 in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you; I appreciate your advice on the amount to decrease. As of today the replacement joint continue to be unaffected.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Lydia08]

Which does make me wonder if it is PMR pure ...