Zeusa

[Zeusa]

Diagnosed with PMR in September, on 15mg, for 1 week, down to 10 for 1 week then up to 15 for 3 weeks then up to 30 for 1 week,, (to Blitz the doc said) which did take away the pain and stiffness. Now reduced to 25 for a week. Doctor wants to bring me down again this weekend to 20. Only problems at the moment is my hands. Generally I feel pretty good, even cleared snow from the driveway yesterday! Any thoughts? as I am a bit concerned at the fast reduction having read many others experiences.

[Celtic PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Zeusa

It all sounds very positive - so well done!

Regarding your concern at your current fast reductions, the idea is to get you down fairly quickly from the relatively high 30mg dose to the lowest dose of steroids that controls the inflammation. It may be wise to reduce the size of the next drops by going from 20 to 17.5 rather than straight to 15 for instance, and spending a little longer at each new dose.

If you had raised blood test markers of inflammation at the outset, then ideally these should be repeated prior to each reduction - this was my experience and it acted as a good guide as to whether or not I could reduce.

Once you get to 15 again, in view of your previous problems reducing straight from there to 10 (too steep a drop and after far too short a time anyway), it may be wiser to reduce just to 12.5.

Only one reservation - it is always a good idea to clear the decks for a few days around the time of any reductions, and "clearing the decks" doesn't mean clearing snow from your driveway (lol), which I hope hasn't worsened your hand pain.

Hope that helps to answer your question and also hope it continues to go smoothly for you.

[Zeusa in reply to Celtic]

Thank you Celtic, I feel good this morning, just a slight stiffness in the right hand. I will take note of your suggestions on the lowing of preds when I get below 20.

Many thanks again

[ritter]

Hi Zeusa,yes I have TA which as far as I know is the same as GCA,and I started off on 60mg,s tabs per day for three weeks and the hospital started reducing them too fast and I was back up to 30 within 4 months I am still on 20 and it will be a year next month from when I was diagnosed. the days are long and the nights are even longer due to not sleeping that well,I am back at docs on the 31 and boy do I have some questions for him after listening to all the people on this site and learning so much in the week I have been on the site,thank goodness for the site I do appreciate it.ritter

[wildwoman]

I`ve just come across this site, thank you for it. I`m waiting for a confirmation of pmr, and the information here is very useful - glad I found you!

[Polywotsit PMRGCAuk team member]

Good morning! Zeusa you may be ok coming down to 20 in one drop, but see whether your doc will prescribe some 2.5mg tablets so that you can make a smaller drop next time, as Celtic suggests. Expect some discomfort every time you drop, no matter how small the drop, and don't be afraid to use paracetemol (not ibuprofen) to help you over this for a few days, until your body gets used to the new dose. Good luck! And wildwoman, do go to our website pmrgcauk.com. You can download material from our resources section, and if you email on [e-mail] with your address, we will send you an information pack.

[Zeusa]

Many thanks, Kate, for the advice. My doc has given me Co-Codamol to combat any pain so trust that these are ok. I will see him again on Friday and will talk with him about the reduction rates, he does now, after we had a bit of a blow up in the early days of PMR, ask me what my thoughts and feelings are, so hopefully all will go well.

Like so many others I am very grateful for the sharing on this site.