PMA or Arthritis

[Caulkhead63]

How do I know if it's PMA or Arthritis? I'm tapering nicely with my pred . I have arthritis in my hands but my knees and hips are starting to ache. My hands are worse than they were but how do I know if the rest are one or the other?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Difficult to say when there’s not a lot of info. You say you are tapering nicely, but what dose of Pred are you on now and how have you reduced to that point?

Could be arthritis poking its head up, but if it’s both knees and both hips, that does sound very much like PMR also.

Have you tried painkillers for arthritis - and do that help? If so, it might be that; if not then it probably is PMR flaring. Maybe try the flare protocol as described in link to see if that helps - and dropping back to just above current dose.

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

But more details would help..

[Caulkhead63 in reply to DorsetLady]

I started off at 15 in 2022 . Been VERY slowly reducing. Then x-ray showed arthritis in my hands about 6 months ago. I'm starting to ache in both knees and hips. Pain killers help but pain doesn't go completely

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Caulkhead63]

What dose are you on now? Your idea of very slowly, might not be the same as ours… 1mg a time, 0.5mg a time, slow tapering plan?

[Caulkhead63 in reply to DorsetLady]

I'm on the slow tapering plan. I'm down to 6 . I've had no problems up till now

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Caulkhead63]

Okay… but just because you have been okay up to now, doesn’t mean it isn’t PMR… and if painkillers don’t help then maybe you have gone a tad too low on Pred. That can happen no matter how slowly and carefully you go.

As you get lower on the Pred, there is less ‘spare’ to play with - and at 2 years your PMR may still be a lot more active than you think.

You aren’t reducing come what may to zero, all you are doing is managing your PMR until such time as it goes into remission… and sometimes you go below the level of Pred your illness actually needs on a day by day basis. When that happens you may need a temporary increase to get the inflammation that has been allowed to build up back under control. Hence the flare protocol.

[Caulkhead63 in reply to DorsetLady]

So shall I go back up slightly and see if that helps?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Caulkhead63]

My advice would be to follow the protocol in the link I sent. Just going up by an odd mg doesn’t always work..

[Caulkhead63 in reply to DorsetLady]

Thank you x

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Caulkhead63]

As others have suggested X-rays would be sensible as well.

[suzy1959]

I never found any painkillers worked on my arthritis , 3 of my joints were hurting at once and I was on quite a high dose of pred. So the only way to tell it was arthritis was to have x rays of the joints. It might help to get those just to be sure whether it is OA or not.

[Caulkhead63 in reply to suzy1959]

I was thinking that. My x-ray department is a walk in. Do I still have to have a referral from the doctor do you know?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Caulkhead63]

You do usually.

[Caulkhead63 in reply to PMRpro]

I'll ring my doctors surgery. Thank you