Is this a flare up???

[Sue8]

OMG, I could hardly get out of bed this morning I was in quite a bit of pain. My neck shoulders and arms and also going down my back.

I looked like a right one coming down stairs and then trying to lift my arms to clean my teeth.

I feel about 90 today which is not good as I have a new dishwasher arriving so need to get the old one out. (cue, wake up teenagers).

I have been up an hour now and slowly getting my arms back which is good as I need to go shower and get dressed.

Is this a flare up???? Cos it's almost as bad as when I was put on steroids 3 weeks ago.

Back at docs on Tues for a review so will let him know as he was dropping my dose of Pred. Must remember to ask about the blue steroid card I am suppose to carry. I will also be changing my medipal card to add the info about PMR.

Have a good day everyone x

[Hidden]

Hi Sue,

Hope you're doing a bit better now. If I had been as bad as you were this morning I would be back to the docs pronto. It sounds like a flare to me.

Pats.

[Hidden]

Sue

Try this, if you wake early, have a cup of tea and something to eat and take your steroids then snuggle down for about an hour or so and give the steroids time to work. Your glands make the natural stuff between 2am and 3am so as they are out of commission whilst on high doses (they begin to kick in again on lower doses) you need to give them time to get into your system.

You are at the beginning of a journey you and no one else wanted to embark on and it is a steep learning curve.

[Sue8 in reply to Hidden]

I don't really want to be on this journey either Thank you for the advice I may just try it.

[Annodomini]

It certainly sounds like a flare-up to me, Sue. I had a bad patch before last Christmas, and my doctor advised me to go back up to a dose I felt comfortable with. I think that was 15. After surviving the 'festive' season, I went down gradually. I think I had gone down too fast previously. I have a feeling I might again have gone down too fast, but will continue to aim for 5mg per day and then maintain that for several months. Stressful situations do exacerbate the symptoms even if your inflammatory markers are at or near normal. So it's best to try to avoid stress. I find travelling a bit stressful and have given up driving long distances. As they used to say: 'Let the train take the strain!'.

I'm planning to get back to swimming soon to tone up my flabby muscles. I find swimming quite relaxing if I don't try to push myself.