Being diagnosed with PMR in about 2006 and using varying amounts of prednisolone ever since,
my legacy is Adrenal Insuffiency plus the usual things like bruising, skin rips of easy etc......
But now some new type of pain..........
Last year my rheumy said you no longer have PMR, and wanted some tests done.....
This was when i was told i have Adrenal Insuffiency from long term pred use..............
Pred would be required for life. (unless the Adrenals came good)......
Roughly at that time i was getting more pains that seemed like PMR flaring and was told
no PMR just old age and arthritis ...........
The pain and stiffnes was getting worse so i bumped my pred up to 10mg daily for 4 days.......
Not much difference, thats strange , if it was PMR, the pain level should have at least dropped a bit.
Waited a few days and took a course of Panadol Osteo tabs that i had.......there was great relief
virtually over night.........
A couple of days after that i was raking up some stuff in the back yard ,when i spotted a couple of white cabbage moths (butterflys)........ so i took a swipe at them with the cane rake.......
Instant tremendous pain in the right upper arm area that stayed for days. Seen my GP ,had a
shoulder scan that showed a torn tendon ............
Outcome of this (i am told ) is, i am losing (or lost) elasticity of my muscles , tendons etc......
highly likely from (you guessed it )........long term Pred usage ??????.
So now i also take Panadol to help with the new type of pain.............
Slow movements are the order of the day, any quick reflex movements result in terrible pain......
Just the other day, a sharp movement of my left arm tore another tendon ..........
My GP seems to think any operations may not be successful because of the elasticity problem.
So ,there you go , i now move around like a tortoise...........
The diagnosis from my GP seems to slot in with all my symptoms, so until we find out otherwise
i shall say the elasticity thingo looks like the problem.
................Billy................