odd question

[Darcy2000]

5 years with PMR and GCA

Mostly a pretty easy ride .Second flare right now .. waiting to talk to Rheumy about next steps.But…. My question is this…for the past month I have experienced burning and itching but mostly burning in my shoulders …no rash…very very irritating . Taking usual Benadryl and applying Cortisone which appears to have little affect. Does any one think there is a connection between PMR and Prednisone to cause this most annoying issue?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

If you added itching in your title you may have found related posts -

here are a couple of fairly recent ones -

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

..or tried typing itching into search..

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Is there definitely no rash?

[Darcy2000 in reply to PMRpro]

no rash

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Darcy2000]

I had episodes of a deep burning sensation, the worst position was on the point of my shoulderblades, and mostly when you looked there was nothing to see but a few times it was somewhere else where I could see. When the burning started there was nothing and then briefly tiny blisters appeared and almost immediately sloughed off and the burning sensation faded. It seemed to resemble dermatitis herpetiformis which is a dermatological version of coeliac disease and I was to be tested for it. It requires a skin biopsy but no-one told me I had to eat loads of gluten-containing foods for 6-8 weeks before the biopsy so the dermy very nastily refused to do it, In the meantime I had discovered the other rash I had and the itching were much better when I didn't eat carbs in general - which of course removed bread, pasta and so on and therefore gluten from my diet. The local coeliac guy said there was no advantage to having an official diagnosis unless I needed access to g/f food on prescription, which I didn't really so I never bothered again. It wasn't gluten that was my problem - it was the starch in highly commercialised wheat. I can eat other gluten-containing grains such as rye, spelt and kamut.

[Darcy2000 in reply to PMRpro]

thanks so much for your informative e Mail

That is where my trigger spot on the shoulders

Appt with Rheumy tomorrow.. will run my symptoms by him hopefully for some answers

[Hosers2]

Opthamologist linked me getting Macular Degeneration to steroids (Prednisone) which I was taking for PMR. With my rheumatologist in agreement, I gradually switched (over the space of a month) to Hydroxychloroquine instead of Prednisone. So. . .if you think the prednisone is causing the burning issues (allergic?), HCQ might work for you too.

Good luck. You should talk to your rheumatologist about it.

[Darcy2000 in reply to Hosers2]

thanks so much…good thought ..will check