what to do?

[Janann25]

About 10 days ago, I developed a flare - it was my own fault. I was doing too much - so I decided to go from 5 mg to 10 mg and I’m now on day seven of doing that. I was doing okay but yesterday evening a car drove into the back of my car which really shook me up. My car wasn’t too badly damaged and I was able to drive home but I still felt quite shaky during the night and this morning I feel as if I have a really bad flare. My question is do I try to ride this out and see what I’m like in a few days or would that risk making myself more poorly. Or should I increase my dose and, if so, to what dosage?

Thank you

Jan

[SnazzyD]

If your head was jerked back suddenly, even a bit, you can get quite disproportionate neck, back and shoulder pain and headache. It can take a couple of weeks too. I’ve had a few whiplashes and it isn’t funny. Normal inflammation from injury often rises and reaches a peak at 48 hours, so gets worse before it gets better. What pains do you have? I’m not sure I would bump up the dose beyond 10mg at this stage. Any shooting pains, tingling or numbness anywhere, do get it checked out if you haven’t already.

[Janann25 in reply to SnazzyD]

Thank you for your. Ironically, I had an appointment with a Physio yesterday afternoon because I’ve damaged the ligament in my left shoulder and have been having some numbness in my left arm/hand!! He advised me to contact him before my next scheduled appointment if it got worse so Ill definitely do that if necessary.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Sorry to hear that…

You can stay on the increased dose for another 7 days until you have to make a decision… so see how you are then. The problem with increasing it more than your current 10mg is that it might make it more difficult to reduce afterwards.

Plenty of TLC in the meantime 🌸

[Janann25 in reply to DorsetLady]

Thank you. I must admit I feel loath to increase any more. I’ll just try to make sure I don’t do too much again - difficult at this time of year with the Christmas festivities starting. I was looking forward to meeting up with friends this evening but have sent my apologies. So disappointing.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Janann25]

Yes it is… but there will be other times…

[PMRpro Ambassador]

If a simple fall can trigger a flare - what will a rear-end shunt do? Whiplash left me with a lot of problems that PMR just makes worse. Like Snazzy I wouldn't go too high but you probably do need a check at the doctor - I got private physio paid for after I had a no-fault accident and whiplash was confirmed by the doctor.

[Janann25 in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you for your reply. As I mentioned to Snazzy, I’m under the care of a physiotherapist so I won’t hesitate to contact him if I get any additional pain. In the meantime I’ll stay on 10mg for now but watch how it goes.

[Viveka]

Cosset yourself as much as possible for a few days- do and eat the things you like, treat yourself, do relaxing things. Then take stock. It's not simple cause and effect that a shock will cause a flare. You're already on the flare regime so probably best stick to that and see how it goes.