No energy at all

[ritter]

Need advice finished preds almost 3 weeks back lots of pain but no energy at all. And a strange feeling in my head .Please advise Anne ( Ritter. )

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Sorry to hear this - do you think pain is PMR?

Nine months ago you asked about tapering from 10mg and we suggested you followed your GPs advice to reduce 1mg very 2 months… obviously if you have reduced to zero since then you went much quicker.

If you think it’s PMR, then suggest you go back to 5mg and follow their advice.

Would say the lack of energy and head issues are adrenals - which probably haven’t been helped by the taper.. so hopefully the 5mg will help them as well.

But yiu probably do need to speak to GP just to make sure.

[ritter in reply to DorsetLady]

Thank you so much. Yes I did every 4 weeks and are paying for it now .Will contact doc thank you again Dorset Lady. Anne (ritter)

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I can only support DL's analysis. The lower the slower is one of our mantras for a very good reason. You have to know the new lower dose is still enough and that sometimes takes more than 4 weeks to assess. And adrenal function can be very slow to return - 1mg every month is testing it harshly.

I suspect you do need well under 5mg, but you have to have that much pred to keep the inflammation at bay. Zero isn't able to do anything and apart from the PMR pain, all the symptoms point to adrenal insufficiency.

[ritter in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you ....you 2 lovely lady's dare I ask you if I can ride it out will the adrenals get any better or will it do more damage in any way? Doc is ringing me today. Ritter

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to ritter]

Adrenals should improve, but at the moment they are struggling, so probably do require a bit of chemical assistance - and that’s why we always bang on about tapering slowly - very slowly - to nudge them back into working again.

[ritter in reply to DorsetLady]

Thank you again I will go with what you and docs says this time.i did as I was told back in 2012 and would not have managed it without your help and the rest of your team. And got rid for 7 years.. wen the docs did not know much about it then....reaching 80 I must be going back over girls. Thank you again ritter

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to ritter]

Not MY team 😊… I am part of the team…

[ritter in reply to DorsetLady]

And thank goodness for that as the professionals don't always get it right 🤗🙄

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to ritter]

It all depends how poorly your adrenal glands are functioning. Cortisol is essential to life and without enough you are at risk of an adrenal crisis at any time and in particular if you are under stress of any sort.

After being on pred they go into hibernation and need a very gentle awakening at any age, when you are older they often take longer and in some cases may not improve to full function. Then you may need to stay on pred or hydrocortisone to let the rest of the body work properly.

An adrenal crisis can make you very ill, sick enough to need hospital treatment and can even be life-threatening. Whether you can ride this out depends very much on how much cortisol is being produced. If it is too low, no, you might not be able to ride it out. Discuss it in detail with your GP and if they aren't aware, make sure they are.

[ritter in reply to PMRpro]

Thank PMRpro I will do that today. Thank you for your time .ritter