Advice re flare

[Timek]

Good Morning. I was diagnosed with pmr oct 23 and put on 15mg pred. Ive been slowly reducing..following a plan from here and was on 8mg about to take first 7mg dose. my husband was in hospital with pnuemonia for 5 days...he also has Alzheimer's, I got a chest infection and on antibiotics then 3 days upset tummy! The last couple of days my shoulders and hips have been stiff. Ive upped to 9mg for last 2 doses...is this right or should i go to 10 ? I suspect as usual the stress/ infection and tummy has caused this?! Advice from you lovely people please.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hi,

sorry to hear you’ve been poorly recently, I’d be inclined to treat as a flare as we describe in attached link - and using 8mg as base dose -

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

Once things are back under control - stay at 8mg for a month - and then maybe reduce by 0.5mg a time rather than 1mg… many do once below 10mg and certainly as you get lower and adrenals need to start working again it’s the best way. Plain white uncoated tablets can be cut easily.

Hope you soon feel better..

[Timek in reply to DorsetLady]

Thanks for the advice. Shall i go to 13mg for few days then? Have read link you sent. I'll then go back to 8 and reduce slower. Hate this disease 😪 but realise I'm luckier than some

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Timek]

Yes 13mg for at least a week - then down to 8mg - and smaller steps in future.

Good luck.

[Timek in reply to DorsetLady]

Thankyou

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I agree with DL - all that lot is very likely to have triggered a flare and the flare protocol isn't unreasonable. And when you get back to 8mg, don't rush to go further until you and your situation are more stable. It is always going to be hard dealing with your husband's illness and that plus illness will have overloaded your adrenal function - that upset tummy may have been adrenal insufficiency and abx mixed up, difficult to tell. But don't push things, it will take a few weeks to recover fully.

[Timek in reply to PMRpro]

Thankyou. All makes sense now! There was no reason for the tummy upset so that probably was the reason. Onwards and upwards .