I am congratulating myself for finally coming off Pred 3 weeks ago after a very slow tapering… I started Pred neary 5 years ago..
However it may be my imagination , but my old knee replacements are kicking off it seems ( like i am crawling on sharp gravel on my knees 😩) and hip pain suddenly got worse… Is there a connection?? Pain is dominating my days again but differently … Best painkillers suggestions useful here!!
Everyone is different , but there are oodles of treatments for related OA pain - and it depends how bad it is.
Can’t see why old replacements should suddenly kick off though. Just try paracetamol or topical gel to start with -and progress from there.
The pred is a blunt instrument and will mask other types of inflammation, other than PMR. However, are you sure it is the joints and not the PMR re-emerging now that you are on a lower dose? The other thing is that you might need some exercises to strengthen the knees after being on pred for so long, but you need to be really careful with that if those are replacement knees. I really think you ought to speak to your GP, rather than to try and guess.
For me, higher doses of pred masked (by helping) my worsening osteoarthritis. So as I lowered my pred, it appeared to me that my arthritis was getting worse. Arthritis gets worse with age, so it was getting worse, but masked by taking pred. Pred is not, however, a treatment for osteoarthritis, so shouldn’t be increased, I don’t believe, to help it. No point me giving you my pain routine as I’ve a serious knee injury atm, & am on morphine waiting for surgery, but I should see your doctor & get help. There’s not one best painkiller for all that fits osteoarthritis, & none of us are doctors!! Good luck!
Think you probably need a trip back to docs and possible x-rays on the knees. Lot of things you could try as DL has suggested. Co-Codamol is my go to for OA, but you would need a prescription for the strong ones. One other suggestion, and please don't take this the wrong way, is possibly to lose weight. Extra weight does put a far bigger strain on both hips and knees.
Thankyou all for your comments - I agree maybe Pred was masking the inevitable progress of the OA - Im thinking is a matter if gritting my teeth and waiting for the Orthopedic appointment I have for the end of the month I have a good Physio I'm going to see too - and … agreed re weight -,I lost 3.1/2 stone over two years but have more to go but seem to have got mentally stuck on that one despite regularly going to group .. Just turned 80 🫣 so i have to accept Im not young any more .. but I still love my opera and dishy opera singers to keep me young in mind if not in body!
Perhaps you were lucky to be free of your arthritic pain for so long. I’ve had arthritis at the bottom of my spine for more years than I like to remember and really enjoyed the period of not having that horrible gnawing burning pain in my back and around my pelvic bones that greeted me every morning. Unfortunately for me the pain returned when I got down to 15mg Pred ( the same point it returned when I was tapering Pred for a previous autoimmune illness). I had also had arthritis in my knees and in late 2022 had a knee replacement and although I don’t have pain in the joint I now have feeling more like having a tight bandage around it. As for pain relief the only thing that used to work for me was co-Codamol and Diclofenac which I know Drs no longer like to prescribe. I’ve always tried to manage pain through healthy diet and exercise so pill taking has been as a last resort or prior to going on a long and strenuous walk which I knew would involve uneven downhill tracks. Therefore the Dr agreed as long as I wasn’t taking Diclofenac on a daily basis for long periods I could continue. With regard to the exercise if you can walk through the pain it does get easier to manage and If you can get to a pool it allows you to bend and stretch those painful joints with the water supporting you. This together with cycling (static bike these days) was recommended to me in the late 90s when I was told I was too young to have the needed replacement and although a couple of painful flare ups gave cause to reconsider this I think I did well to stave off the replacement for so long and even then I was told my legs were so strong that it made for a quick recovery. I hope you can find something to bring relief and in the meantime enjoy the music and the pleasure those opera singers bring.
Hi Loveopera! Just returned from A&E overnight as spine and hip pain went into spasm. Investigations as to cause ongoing, but there's some arthritis in spine and a compression fracture in Lumbar 4. Re pain: I was given ibuprofen suppositories as a one-off, and my dihydrocodeine has been upped from 4 to 6 in 24 hours (plus max of 8 paracetamol tabs) and voltarol gel. Working well so far. Re opera: daughter works in orchestral management at Royal Opera House in which she's seen Ralph Fiennes quite a bit recently. Apparently he's going to direct his first opera - Eugene Onegin. Thought this might be of interest. All the best!
I’m the same. I stopped taking pred in December last year and the pred must have been masking my arthritis which is very painful in my hands and my right shoulder. I had no unpleasant side effects from pred and no weight gain or moon face but since coming off pred I’ve put on half a stone and feel less fit than I was when on pred!
Sx worse, what on earth do I do
PMR or arthritis update. 
PMR signs getting worse (again)
Arthritis pain not relieved by Pred.
Confused about PMR, arthritis and effects of pred.
