After 8 years of dealing with PMR I got down to 1 mg again last fall, for the 2nd time. I was content to ride it out at 1 mg forever if things stayed calm. Life was good, I was healthy otherwise and was looking forward to being 70% retired by the end of 2025. On October 8th I came down with a sore throat. Within 48 hours I saw a doctor twice as the issue progressed so fast to the point that I was unable to swallow at all, unable to take medications including prednisone. That night I evidently awakened my wife to tell her I was having trouble breathing. She drove us the 45 minutes to our nearest hospital. From there I was life flighted by helicopter 2.5 hours to a regional hospital one state further west. I have no memory of this or other events until almost 2 months later when I emerged from a coma. I had been attacked by a rare, fast moving streptococcus constellatus bacteria that did a good job of trying to kill me. We all have this bacteria but usually it leaves us alone.
I bring this up only to point out how important it is for doctors to know that one is on prednisone. My wife pointed out to the team of doctors that I was on a very low dose of prednisone. The abscesses that had developed throughout my neck and upper check had kicked my CRP number up from it's usual 2 or 3 into the stratosphere at 156 !!! The doctors kicked my pred dose up to 6 mg, as they had their hands full already and didn't need to deal with any PMR issues. Surgeries, antibiotics and other steroids followed. Needless to say that 2025 will be a year of recovery for me. Prednisone is at 5 mg and can stay there for a long time as far as I'm concerned.
New here, glad I found you!
Unpredictable stages of recovery
GCA-PMR, Talking & flinging arms while sleeping!
Possible connection between prednisone and skin cancer
