I was diagnosed on 4th April with PMR and started 15mg of pred on 11th. After 3 weeks I went down to 12.5mg. My main symptoms were aching arms which I still have slightly but I'm due to drop to 10mg tomorrow 23rd. I'm thinking of delaying it a couple of weeks but don't want to be on too high a dosage of pred for too long. Roughly how much of my immune system is compromised by pred and how much does it affect my bones...I'm scared to fall over in case I brake anything lol.Many thanks
Gary
Hi and welcome,
.. and agree staying on 12.5mg for another couple of weeks - never reduce if you have symptoms - they rarely go away.., just get worse.
Don't panic about being on Pred, you won't fall to bits in a heap overnight - despite what you may read about the medication... and tbh 12.5mg is not a high dose of Pred compared to what some of us have been on...
Have a look at this info post which hopefully will allay some of your fears - and have you been prescribed a Calcium/VitD supplement alongside Pred - you should have - and that helps protect bones -
healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...
When you have got your head around thing, maybe have a mooch through the FAQs - see just below your post, or in Pinned Posts
Thanks for the quick reply. I've just been reading through some of FAQs. It sounds like I've got it quite mildly compared to other people but I definitely won't be dropping to 10mg too quickly. As I said the pain in my arms which is how it was diagnosed is reduced considerably but the one thing I enjoy doing that does seem to flare it up is going down the pub for a beer. I don't intend to stop that as I think going to the pub with friends benefits my mental health too much. Hopefully it will eventually clear up.
Alcohol does affect some people when on Pred, but not others… and it may depend on how many beers are supped! 😂🤣,.. but if it benefits your mental health then sometimes that’s as important…
Just keep on eye on arms - and if they don’t improve you may need to return to 15mg.. get under things under control and then taper at only 1mg a time rather than 2.5mg.
And it will go - but unfortunately no one can say when..
Have just read your link. Very informative..thank you.
If I had reduced to 10mg in that period of time I would have rolled up into a ball, but I am a tender little flower. Men seem to be able to reduce better than women, but that is not based on any scientific evidence on my part!
I agree with the comments so far. I took pred for pmr for nearly eight years, but had no problems at all with bones.
It’s perhaps worth saying that most problems arise from either being required to taper down too quickly, and/or by too big a dose. One thing that really helped me was to reduce by no more than 10% of the dose I was on, and never reducing if I was aware of any symptoms.
As you are new to pmr, you will most likely discover that you will need lots and lots of patience. If you try to reduce too quickly, then the pmr will probably come back to bite!
Good luck, and do keep in touch with this Forum; it has been a life saver for me, and, I suspect, for many others.
Hi and welcome!
Unless you already have osteoporosis your bones aren't going to disintegrate in a few weeks! I have been on pred for 15 years and my bone density hasn't changed significantly in that time. All I took was calcium and vit D - I do take 4000 IU which is a lot higher than the UK recommendation but I'm pretty sure it has helped.
I also don't have a lot of truck with the compromised immune system claims - some people do get more infections but probably a majority don't. I get fewer colds than pre pred and quite a few others say the same. For women, UTIs can be a problem, not sure whether men get more, you tend to get fewer under normal circumstances.
You can't classify pred as "too much for too long" - you need what you need to control the inflammation. You start high to get it under control quickly but how much you need depends on YOUR underlying disease activity and the only way to assess that is by the dose of pred you need to keep you at the same level of relief that that starting dose achieved. It is your guide, and if you find symptoms starting to build up, pounce on it quickly and don't let it get away from you.
Maybe a pint is too heavy for the biceps to cope with?
Like your last sentence! 😂
I started on 15mg and tapered down to 12.5mg after 3 weeks the same as you, but my GP has a sheet of instructions for us and that reduces by only 1 mg every 4 weeks afterwards if all is going well. If I get a flare of PMR then its an immediate call to the Doc and back up 1 mg again.
Thought I'd got a flare up last week but persevered with the 8mg I'm down to now and its ok thankfully. Mine was a complete body inflammation right up to the scalp. What I thought was a flare up was caused by me overdoing weights at the gym, which confused me &my body with gym stiffness or the PMR. Thankfully that has subsided and I'm being careful not to do the machines or weights at too high a weight and bring about more inflammation.
Try drinking shorts or half pints or use a straw then your arms can relax!lol.
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