Flare or muscle fatigue?

[Gatorchief]

I’ve had a run of bad luck the last 3 weeks. The water main to the house broke on a Wednesday and wouldn’t not be able to be looked at by the plumbers for at least a week. I couldn’t wait that long without water and showers and bathroom facilities. Not a fan of hotels so I located the leak, shut off the water and dug up the pipe and repaired the break myself. The next day I was really sore all over and the prednisone was not helping. That’s when I started to increase my dose to 20mg. After a week I went back to 15 mg as my GP has never recommended that I start tapering from 15 for the last 12 weeks. We just had a bad winter storm and I had clear out the driveway to get to the grocery store. Shoveling the wet snow was another strain on the back , arms , and shoulders. Is it PMR flare or muscle reaction to the physical stress from the digging and shoveling? I’ve read posts about DMO or something like that that has to do with muscles. I’m still at 15 mg for now as the pain and stiffness is generally moderate . I only have 2 weeks until my appointment with my GP and I’m hoping to finally start tapering down then. I know this can be a lengthy process, but if you never start, you never finish.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Sorry to hear sbout your mishaps

Sounds very much like DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) -see this-

‘healthline.com/health/doms

and Pred won’t help that as such -but just make sure all that extra activity doesn’t result in a flare. Hopefully it won’t, but if it does, then you may require extra Pred -so don’t ignore an increase in PMR symptoms

[Gatorchief in reply to DorsetLady]

Thank you for your reply. The link to the DOMS article is right on with my symptoms. I’ll be watching closely for the next week to see if the soreness goes away. Thanks again!

[SnazzyD]

Sounds like the muscle strain that DL says. Your muscles and ligaments just can’t do things like your heroic feat without kickback. The speed with which it came on shouts DOMS and Pred isn’t much use as found out to my disappointment a number of times. Stands to reason really because you’re dealing with damage rather than just inflammation.

[Gatorchief in reply to SnazzyD]

Thank you. Yes I’m pretty sure it was over exertion on my shoulders , arms , and back. Right shoulder is the worst as I use it harder when using the pick axe or shovel. Thinking I’m still fit and still being fit are probably two different things now.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Gatorchief]

They are!!!!

[SnazzyD in reply to Gatorchief]

One thing PMR/Pred affected muscles and ligaments hate is repetitive movements under strain.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Sorry to hear about the domestic disasters - but that all sounds like DOMS. And the only cure for that is time, Tylenol and rest.

But be warned - yes, I appreciate WHY you did what you did. But bear in mind that if you really overdo it with PMR and pred - you might end up with months of pain and disability and even a level that never recovers fully. Overexertion is thought by some experts to be a trigger for PMR in the first place or flares and once the soft tissues are made delicate by the disease process or pred, heavy labour can really cause trouble.

[Gatorchief in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you, I still go to the gym every other day and my workout has slowly increased since the start of prednisone. It’s mostly cardio for the heart health. 3 miles on the elliptical at 30 min. I keep the weights limited to 55kilos and that has been ok so far. If the soreness doesn’t resolve in another week I’ll take a week off from the gym and see if that helps.

[piglette]

The mantra for PMR is rest, rest, rest!! I am SOOO impressed that you were able to repair a water main.