PMR pain versus arthritis

[Artwatercolour]

I have been reducing down to 4 but have pain in hips upon waking goes away after I am up. Is this PMR or my arthritis?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Bit difficult to tell, OA pain does resurface as you reduce the Pred.

Do you know you have OA..or just assuming? It might just be normal stiffness after sleeping, but do monitor it..and obviously if it gets worse or you get other PMR type symptoms then you need to do something about it.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

And is it going after waking because the new dose of pred is kicking in?

[Artwatercolour in reply to PMRpro]

It’s pretty much gone before I take morning pred

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Artwatercolour]

Unlikely to be inflammatory then.

[Artwatercolour in reply to PMRpro]

so when you say Unlikely to be inflammatory do you mean probably not PMR?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Artwatercolour]

Well PMR is inflammatory. that is why pred is used. If it is going before you take the pred it is less likely to be directly PMR.

[Seekingasolution in reply to PMRpro]

I’m interested to read this too. I am down to 1 mg of pred and think my PMR has just about gone -so much so I’m going to clip on a pair of skis in December and hope I can get up if I fall over ! Of course the ‘normal’ I remember, pain free and mountain climbing 12 years ago is not quite what I feel now at 67 but I suppose age takes its toll. The main problem I have now apart from not overdoing it or I get really tired is that feeling when I first get up from a chair that I have to stand for a moment or two before walking as I am majorly stiff. Once I start moving, after a bit of a hobble, I can walk ok. My son’s girlfriend, a hospital physio says it’s common in ‘elderly’ ( ugh!) patients and puts it down to a lack of or slow movement of synovial fluid. Try drinking more water she advises. I already have to wear camouflage when I take the dog out for fear of having to nip behind a bush but she may have a point. What do you think? Remnants of PMR or age related stiffness? And any other advice ?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Seekingasolution]

Remnants of PMR - cheeky bisum, does it ever occur to them an awful lot of older patients probably also have mild, undiagnosed PMR? Are you better at 2mg? Remember 1mg can be plenty to keep left-overs of PMR quiet - which is all we want really!