Struggling with flare..if it is flare

[Poll8]

Hi all.Had PMR since Feb. 2020. All in all not been too bad and able to cope most of the time. Usually aching knees and occasionally in wrists.

2 weeks ago was on 6mg. feeling good. Pred tapering 1/2mg. month.

Suddenly got pains in right leg..back of leg to heel but particularly knee. Tried to cope 2 days then upped pred to 10mg for 1 week. Pain subsided almost back to normal ache. Went down to 8mg. planning to reduce back down to 6mg. after another week. Was OK for 4 days..suddenly pain in left leg now..same place and just as intense as right leg had been. Upped to 10mg. again so now been on 10mg. for 5 days. Pain is intense, struggling to put weight on leg so really difficult to walk or climb stairs. Rheumy dropped me as soon as I got cancer diagnosis. Never been able to contact her since. GP admits he knows little about PMR but sending me for blood tests and will try to arrange rheumatologist at local hospital but says wait can be up to 12 months.

Question is...do you think I should increase pred again?

To what..for how long?

Dexa scan about 8 months ago diagnosed ostopenia..no full osteoarthritis yet!

Thanks for your time reading this. Grateful for your expertise please.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

If the GP can rule out any other obvious cause, injury and so on then probably trying the more pred approach is a reasonable idea. A week or two of 10mg won't do any harm. But the suddenness of the onset is strange and I think the GP should send you for an x-ray.

[Poll8 in reply to PMRpro]

Hi. Thanks for your thoughts. Had an xray in late January. Haematologist sent me for hip, knee and ankle Xrays to make sure chemo hadn't had adverse effect on bones because my chemo included large doses of steroids and because of my PMR. All came back OK. GP checked my legs and said couldn't feel any obvious injuries and haven't had anything happen.Do you think I should stay on 10mg. for a bit longer and increase if it doesn't improve

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Poll8]

My thesis is "Quality of life is all"