Medication

[Caterham63]

how long does it take for Prednisolone to start taking effect?

[SnazzyD]

It depends on a few things but can be hours to a few weeks for PMR but it requires the dose to be sufficient. We can give you a better reply if you tell us a bit about your diagnosis, dose and what’s been happening.

[piglette]

In my case it took 15 hours and 26 minutes. For some people it is even less others longer, but it should work in a week.

[Gimme]

Assuming that you have been told that you have PMR. Depends a lot on the individual and the starting dose. I have seen some on here say that it took a week or so. I started to notice a benefit within a couple of hours after taking 15 mg and by next morning I was completely pain free.

[Oh-my]

It took several weeks for me but getting better day by day. It was the pain in my shoulders from returning movement that took the longest. I probably should have started on a higher dose for speedier relief but I was (and still am to certain degree) steroid-timid.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Everyone is different - I had a miracle in 6 hours at 15mg - some take 6 days and some need longer or more pred to get the same result. It can be hours - but only if the starting dose is enough for YOU.

[FnF36]

When I first started Prednisolone for GCA I had a marked improvement within 36 hours.

[Poetryb]

I had a high dose for GCA and felt no pain within 24 hrs but it does depend on your condition, mine was very serious, hence what I believe to be a sight saving dose. Now two and a half years on and feeling pretty normal I go to the Oxted support group which is informative as well as supportive. I have just renewed my membership and look forward to the benefits of doing so.

[AtopicGuy]

Depends on whether you've got an autoimmune disease or not, and which one. PMR tends to mean rapid relief at 15 - 20mg/dy; GCA, 40 - 60mg/dy; MG up to 100mg/dy; and RA totally depends on severity. If your diagnosis and dose are a correct match, the response can be rapid, and then build to a maximum over 2 weeks. If you don't feel much better after 2 weeks, something doesn't tally.

[Moness]

I found it worked straight away, great relief!

[AshPen9]

I definitely felt the difference within a few hours, Caterham63, but it took a week or so to feel the full effect. Everyone's different, as you will have gathered from the other replies. Good luck!

[Freya32]

Caterham 63

From the time of takingthe first 15 mg tablet ...about an hour. It seemed instantlyMy GP phoned that evening to ask how I was. I told him I was able to cut my left hand nails.

He said "ah it is PMR."

That morning I had been lifted out of bed and taken to the surgery. My hands were swollen and curled up and terribly painful. No one could touch them.asfor the rest of me it all ached and I could not move without support.

To me prednisolone was a miracle.

After 20 months or more of ups and downs I am down to 6 mg a day.

Best taken in the morning , soon after waking.as that is when natural cortisol is released by the adrenals.

May I digress here?

If anyone on here with PMR know s he/ she has Lyme disease (correctly diagnosed or not ) then be sure your GP or rheumatologist gives you antibiotics along with the steroids.. ( I only learnt this yesterday) ... (see The late Dr John Dullle'research..)..It seems Lyme disease can cause P MR.and untreated Lyme can also go on to cause Lyme Carditis leading heart failure...which I now have.

About 16 yrs ago my Lyme test came back negative. "So you don't have Lyme disease". I was told.

At that time I could not afford private testing.

How much personal pain and misery and huge NHS costs could have been saved had I been offered a month of Doxycycline years ago.

Mmm

Read Gone in a Heartbeat by the late Dr Neil Flector and

What Lurks in the Woods by Nicole BellThe paper written by Dr John Dulle is entitled Antibiotics and Steroids

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Freya32]

PMR isn't the disease - it is the name given to a set of symptoms as a whole which are caused by an underlying condition - and there are several. Some are pred-responsive, some are not. Some are banal - and some are definitely not since there are potentially a couple of cancers and a range of inflammatory arthritides and vasculitides. "Our" PMR is a differential diagnosis having ruled out the others.

[Freya32 in reply to PMRpro]

I agree absolutely.It is not the disease but a condition presumably caused by a deficient immune system usually affecting the elderly....but it seems younger age groups get it

In my case no other diagnoses was made.

It was just P MR, but I had severe arthritis for many years beforehand.

I had CAP which is a complication of PMR ...so the hospital Dr told me.

However I never knew it could be another complication of untreated Lyme.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Freya32]

It is caused by immune system already creaking for one reason or another, and then encounters something that finally triggers it. Can be a virus, a vaccination, an accident, an operation, and pre-existing autoimmune condition or mental/physical stress… or a combination.

It has always has been described as affecting older patients, but now recognised that it occurs in much younger. A patient in their 40s is still fairly rare, but from 50 onwards it’s certainly not.

[Freya32 in reply to DorsetLady]

Yes agreed. I had long lasting shingles before the PMR, despite given aclovir.

Asked the rheumatologist, some months back , could it have been the shingles caused the PMR.

Yes he said. Very likely.

A strong immune system can fight almost anything.

[SMW10]

within a maximum of 36 hours in my experience.

[RoRee]

I was pain free after 7 days . I felt like a miracle. I’ve been on Prednisolone now for 3 years now down to 5 mg . Started on 20 mg . I hope this helps

[Sandidee]

Hi I took two days for some of the pain to go and 5 days until I was completely pain free. My start dose was 15 mg.