Swollen Hands

[Whitewasblack]

I have PMR and was diagnosed two months ago after going through three months of pain.I started on 15mg of prodnisome and after one month was reduced to 10mg.I wake up each morning a little stiff in the arms but no major problems except one .I have suffered from swollen and stiff hands and fingers from the very beginning of this disease . I would appreciate having someone tell me of their experience with the swollen hand problem . Im wondering why the prednisome has not done its job and reduced the pain and swelling in the hands .I do appreaciate any information you can send and I have gained some knowledge and understanding of thi disease from this forum Thank You for your time

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Now you have asked the question you can see related posts, and it is very often mentioned.

Can I ask after the month on 15mg did you drop down to 10mg in one go? If so, would say therein lies part of your problem. Most ‘official’ tapers state reduce 15mg to 12.5mg for 3 weeks then to 10mg… but many find that they cannot manage that let alone in one go.

We often suggest only reducing by 1mg a time when 10mg a s well as below it. Think you may need to return to 15mg get things back under control then try the 1mg reduction - so please speak with your doctor.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

There is RS3PE syndrome which can accompany PMR but is should resolve with a similar dose of pred.

However, I had awful hand and foot pain, probably synovitis from the PMR, and swelling too. Despite a very speedy 70% response to pred (6 hours), it was 3 or 4 months before the foot and hand pain resolved and I had some puffiness of feet in particular for much much longer. My hands are still larger than they were pre-PMR.

I would say that dropping from 15 to 10mg after only a week was too soon to allow the pred to fully resolve all the inflammation that built up. It used to be that you stayed at the the starting dose until your symptoms were resolved and stable before starting to taper and 6 to 8 weeks at 15 was not unusual. But they are so terrified of pred they rush to get patients off pred asap.

[Charlie1boy]

For me the hand and wrist pain came in after about 18 months on pred. I was advised from this Forum to increase my dose by 3 or 4 mg, and this helped to get matters under control.

I never tapered down if I felt any symptoms, and then by only some 10% of the dose I was on. So, when on 15 my reduction was 1.5mg. It worked well for me. You will need lots and lots of patience with PMR.

Good luck.

[anutycrixp in reply to Charlie1boy]

I too suffered swollen hands and feet.I couldn’t get shoes on.Hands were painful but feet not so much,just huge! This was overshadowed by other pmr symptoms and al the troubles of getting diagnosed,treatment etc.My heart was checked( for failure I guess) but no problems there so nobody could explain the swelling.It was ignored really and was more concerned with the other horrible symptoms pain etc.Steroids worked there but swelling took a while to just go away.I don’t know why it happened.It seemed nothing to do with the usual way of fluid retention because it never went down in feet after lying down for hours and there was no “ pitting “ when pressed. The strange world of p.m.r.! Best wishes!

[Purplegloss]

I have recently had swollen fingers, and after a blood test it was diagnosed as gout. It was pretty painful.

[Freya32]

I too had very swollen hands and they were claw like.The pain in shoulders ,neck and back was but crippling nothing compared to the hands pain and swelling. I couldn't, hold my stick so could not walk.Two years later they are no longer swollen but are still painful and cannot do what they once did.

Still have neuropathy in them but someone on here told me in the beginning that they will get better. She gave me hope.. and they did get better.

I was on 15 mg to begin with and now down to four but can go no lower.

You cannot reduce preds too uickly. Take it slowly and according to how you feel. If symptoms return then increase a little . It is is not one rule for all.

[Whitewasblack in reply to Freya32]

Thank you for that information