Hi I am trying to manage my polymyalgia with nsaids Has anyone else done this?

[hoovy]

[hannmorr]

I didn't find they helped me. The only drug which took the pain away for me was prednisolone 15 mg...magic! NSAIDs have side effects too, don't forget.

God luck

[allotment-lover]

I took Ibuprofen for about 6 months before I had visual problems and GCA and PMR were diagnosed at the same time. It helped a tiny bit but nothing like enough to let me live a normal life, which I can do with steroids. I guess if they give you good enough control of your symptoms they might be worth a try. However I would get medical advice as I do not know all the implications. Also though GCA (Giant Cell Arteritis) is by no means inevitable, and though Pred does not ALWAYS prevent it, you have a better chance of avoiding it if you are on steroids.

Good luck.

[chubbycheeks]

I have PMR and have taken Pred for the last 8 months. If you do have PMR this is the only drug that will work. You read about many side effects, but mine have been minimal. I would take it again in a heartbeat rather than suffer like I did unable to move, ie get in or out of bed get in or out of car, step into shower or swimming pool. I was like a stone statue but also had severe pain. Wishing you well x

[Celtic PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hello hoovy

I suppose the answer is it depends on the severity of your PMR symptoms.

During my first year of illness my then rheumatologist was unable to diagnose my condition even though for several months I was bed-bound, unable to move a muscle without excruciating pain and attending rheumy appointments by ambulance and wheelchair. During about 7 months of that year I took a small dose of Ibuprofen together with Paracetamol daily but none of them resolved or even reduced my pain sufficiently to enable me to move about. However, my blood test inflammation markers very gradually moved back down to normal levels and towards the end of that year I thought I had recovered from whatever had ailed me.

I wish I could say that was the end of the story BUT a blood test revealed reduced kidney function (Ibuprofen???) and I became ill again with many different symptoms. Within a month, both GCA and PMR were diagnosed by a different rheumatologist.- non-treatment of what had obviously been PMR the previous year had put me at risk of contracting GCA. For those patients being treated with steroids for PMR there is about a 3 in 10 chance of them going on to develop GCA; however, that risk rises to 7 in 10 for those not treated.

40mgs of Prednisolone gave me back my life, not quite the life I'd had before but all the time improving and now in remission and off steroids.

As I have already said, it depends on the severity of your symptoms and whether you are able to lead a normal life without steroids, remembering at the same time that NSAIDS such as Ibuprofen can cause problems taken continuously in the long term.

But we can all be very different in response to our illness and to medication. I do wish you well.

[Hidden]

Hi Hoovy,

It's well over 2 years now since I had an accident at work which caused a wrench injury to my left shoulder. Over the next 2 months I took ibuprofen at full dose to combat the pain and enable me to work. But the pain spread to my right shoulder and both arms and then into my hips and all surrounding muscles. 2 months later I woke one morning to find I couldn't get out of bed - ibuprofen had worked to some degree, but it did not stop me developing PMR.

I saw a local GP who did tests which all came back normal, but she had listened well to my story and had seen this illness before. She put me on 30mg of prednisolone - 3 hours later I was completely pain free.

If you ever take pred you will feel the difference between it and what ever anti inflammatories you are taking now, but the dose must be right and that depends on how much pain you are suffering.

What you must remember is that PMR is not cured by steroids or any other anti inflammatory drug - this disease has to run it's course and that is different for every one of us that has it, but what prednisolone does seem to have the ability to do is lessen the chance of us developing GCA from 7 in 10 to 3 in 10. It is doubtful that NSAIDs offer the same protection and taken long term they can be an even more harmful drugs than pred.

It's true, steroids do have side effects, but as the illness dies down the pred can be reduced and the 'nasties' begin to go away.

Pats.

[Pipistrelle]

NSAIDS also do not protect against the cardiac and stroke risk that we have with PMR -- that was the main argument from all the doctors I spoke to -- which included not just my own rheumy but also old family friends, retired rheumatologists and an orthopedist, some of which had had PMR themselves. I baulked like so many at the idea of steroids at first but once I understood the risk for other serious complications including GCA (and nsaids INCREASE cardiac and stroke risk themselves at continuous high doses, as well as often causing stomach and kidney problems) then I understood why steroids are important for treatment.

I was on ibuprofen for a while before diagnosis -- initially it could manage most of the pain but effectiveness soon began to wear off. t did nothing for my most painful symptom -- my knees would lock up at night and it was extremely painful to bend them them. Also ibuprofen began to irritate my stomach after a while and I had to take stomach protectants as well, then switch to a different NSAID that is easier on the stomach but has even higher cardiac/stroke risks (it isn't licensed for those reasons in the US though is available in the EU).

With steroids you are generally only on a higher dose for a very short time and soon are down under 10 and reducing. 10mg is the threshold at which most people stop having symptoms -- if they get any -- from steroids. Personally I had almost none. And the steroids gave instant relief nearly (within 8 hours) from the pain. Only after I started them -- and slept and slept and slept at night for the following weeks -- did I realise how exhausted my body had become from the pain, not adequately managed with NSAIDS.