Increasing prednisone temporarily: well I had... - PMRGCAuk

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Increasing prednisone temporarily

arvine profile image
10 Replies

well I had posted all my issues, chronic pain, and 5 days ago excruciating, hands, all joints, elbows ankles etc, so because of my tapering from 4 mgs to 3 1/2 started couple weeks ago, wonderring if this was a flare and have read on this site about trying adding 5 mgs pred to current dose, I do have a lot of arthritis back hip etc , and rheumy suggested mos ago no longer have pmr?At any rate took it upon myself to do tjis temp increase, today will be 5 days, havent noticed a miraculous pain free day, but not as bad as what I had 5 days ago. Howevere had my voryual appt with rheumy yesterday morning, he was not pleased, said prednisone worst drug on market, if I keep going up and down will never get off pred. He did agree with having upcoming nerve blocks this monday and also to gobon wait list for hip replacement, like I have said in previous comments dont haveva lot of confidence in him seems very unconcerned and uninvolved with my pain issues, today Im second guessing this increasevandbif should return to 31/2 or 4!mgs of prednisone?

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arvine profile image
arvine
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PMRpro profile image
PMRproAmbassador

"he was not pleased, said prednisone worst drug on market, if I keep going up and down will never get off pred."

He is correct that if you keep going up and down on pred you won't ever get off it. However - it is NOT the worst drug on the market and he is very unprofessional to say such a thing to a patient. It is the most effective antiinflammatory on the market and for some it is literally a life-saver - and for almost all of us on here it gave us our lives back.

arvine profile image
arvine in reply toPMRpro

Thank you, to clarify, the only other 3 times have gonevup was when he upped to 40 mgs in Dec 2022 when I had been down to 4 mgs, then when I had such groin pain in June he agreed ann increase for 3 days to help me tolerate pain when getting MRI on both hips, so over 8!yrs those are the 2 times I increased until 5 days ago, now he put the fear into me and onlybtaking 4 mgs this morning

PMRpro profile image
PMRproAmbassador in reply toarvine

He'd not remain my rheumy, let's put it that way.

Purplecrow profile image
Purplecrow in reply toarvine

The dude sounds like he doesn’t know much about the real value of Pred…., and is simply parroting old attitude of prior generations. Any chance you can find a different doc?

DorsetLady profile image
DorsetLadyPMRGCAuk volunteer

seems very unconcerned and uninvolved with my pain issues

In that case I'd boot him into touch!

arvine profile image
arvine in reply toDorsetLady

Yes just such long wait withbreferral to another rheumy.

DorsetLady profile image
DorsetLadyPMRGCAuk volunteer in reply toarvine

yes but the one you've got isn't' helping you at all with that attitude..

piglette profile image
piglette

It sounds to me as if your rheumy is competing for the position of worst rheumy on the market. What gibberish, perhaps he was having a bad day.

Pixix profile image
Pixix

Your weather must be going down in temperatures now, just as ours are in England? This brings an unwanted increase in my arthritis pain, affecting hands, hips, knees, feet, plus worsening bursitus & sciatica. Sometimes it’s good to check & think if other things could be causing the pain, & not just PMR. Yo-yoing is not the way forward, I don’t 5hink. Yes, increasing your pred May temporarily subdue your arthritis, it would mine, but it’s not a drug used for that. If you need a hip replacement you will be in pain, sadly, until that’s done. I was due to taper 0.5mg this week, but have put it off u til my body gets used to the cold a littke, but there’s no way I’m increasing it. Just a personal tale, really…may not apply to you!

sidra1968 profile image
sidra1968

In my experience, 5 days isn't usually enough..give it another week. I have upped mine way more than 2 times over 1.8 years of pred, still only down to 14 mg right now after a flare at 13 mg . While I agree with the yo-yoing not being good..we need to able to function and I would guarantee if he was in massive pain and knew Pred would take it away (mostly) he would be upping his dose for 10 days or whatever, too.

Really hope you can find a different doctor and don't worry about what he thinks.

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