Still have symptoms after two weeks of increasing pred

[simps999]

I posted 7 days ago about increasing pred due to a flare and have taken the advice and mostly rested but even after increasing from 8 mg to 10mg for 4 days now, on the advice of my GP. I still have the same pains in buttocks and shoulders although I do feel a little improvement.Question is what to do now regarding pred ?

Appreciate your thoughts.

[piglette]

I find increasing by 5mg to really bang the PMR on the head, stay on that dose for a week or so and then reduce in a couple of steps works well.

[simps999 in reply to piglette]

Thank you , but what I should have said was I was on 4 and tried to reduce to 3 and a half but had a flare two weeks ago so followed the protocol for a flare but even after 9 days I was still suffering so GP advised going to 10 . I am.still having symptoms

I have had similar before, been two years on this journey, but eventually managed to reduce so guess I just have to stay on this dose for a while longer ?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Just to clarify - you had increased to 8mg for 6 days when you last wrote [a week ago] and we suggested stay there for 14 days. But now you are on 10mg [following advice from GP] and no better. So you have been on increased dose for 13 days and some small improvement.. is that correct?

As it’s BH weekend, think you probably need to stay on 10mg - and contact GP on Tuesday. You could try NHS 111 and see if you speak to an on duty GP… not sure we can suggest anything else.

[simps999]

Yes , that is correct although when I last wrote I was feeling generally unwell but now just have the usual pmr pains.

[piglette in reply to simps999]

Have you tried taking pain kilers for the pain? You may find that if they work you may have something else as well as PMR at the moment.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I think you need medical advice - which won't be before Tuesday now. Sometimes the pred not being enough isn't due to overshooting the dose you need - it can also be due to the underlying disease activity increasing, It is something you must always bear in mind because very occasionally the PMR is a forerunner to GCA or LVV developing and they tend to need more pred to manage the inflammation.

[simps999 in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you for your advice I will try and get another appointment on Tuesday if I am still feeling the same .