Aching bones

[Richard170356]

After my last post I settled down a bit and am now tapering from 6mg to 5mg. I have noticed that most pain I get now is in my bones, especially my collarbone, and to a lesser extent ribs. The muscle aches that I had previously have largely gone. Is this normal for PMR because I spoke to my rheumatologist and he dismissed it and suggested that I start taking methotrexate instead, which he has recommended since February this year. I have been resisting this but would I be better to give it a try and see what happens?

[sidra1968]

Hello..I am going through the same right now as I am on about day 10 of a taper from 14 to 13 mg..just took some tylenol, but if it doesn't go away by tomorrow I am gonna go back up for few days. I did do some weed pulling 2 days ago and think it may be somewhat from that. Gardening/weeds seem to really do us PMR sufferers in..but like you, the pain is right on the bone..so maybe connective tissue?

[Richard170356 in reply to sidra1968]

Hi thanks for reply. My pain does seem to be in the actual bone but I’ll continue to taper and see how it goes.

[Koalajane]

at your level you would be better tapering by 0.5mg

[Richard170356 in reply to Koalajane]

I may try that if the taper to 5mg does not work out

[YummyBear]

Look online at Turmeric tablets, to see the benefits. These tablets are good for aching joints/bones! Check with GP if he agrees to you trying them. The have helped me with various aches.Hope this helps.

[Richard170356 in reply to YummyBear]

Hi, thanks for reply. I have tried turmeric in the past and they did not affect the PMR aches.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Is the pain in your collarbone or at the attachment of the sternocleidomastiod muscle at the collarbone? It is a common place to get PMR pain. This shows the positions

physio-pedia.com/Sternoclei...

The idea of telling a patient who has got to 6mg they need to add MTX is crazy and in any case, it isn't an "instead", it is an "as well as" to potentiate the effect of the pred so you get more bang for your buck and manage on a lower dose. There are no guarantees it will get you off pred though some patients do get to a lower dose. It works very well for a small cohort of patients, but they are a minority. There are no large scale clinical studies showing its benefit - Prof Mackie in Leeds has just started one.

[Richard170356 in reply to PMRpro]

Hi, thanks for your reply. I do have a slightly stiff neck which might be what you have indicated but the feeling in the collarbone does seem to be actually in the bone itself. It is different from the muscular aches that I had at the start of the PMR.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Richard170356]

After driving 8 hours yesterday I developed a similar feel - and it is the bones that ache ...