Successfully came off prednisolone last July after eighteen months of steroids. In November shoulders became painful again but not nearly as severe as when first episode. GP reluctant to use steroids and has given me Ibuprofen gel. Very little improvement over six weeks
Hi RD212
Ask your doc to order an ultrasound scan of your shoulder you may have bursitis....
I have no real idea of what to say except I can attest to shoulders, wrist, all with returning pain when I think I am having a flair of PMR or GCA. It has become sort of signal that inflammation has again become a concept. Even the two major places where I have had Mohs surgery for Basel cell carcinoma become inflamed again.
It is an up and down ride but,for me, a signal to go up a little on my Prednisone.
Good luck.
Well, if it is a return of the PMR (and the time scale of both the duration of pred and the time between stopping and a return of symptoms would support that) then your GP may be reluctant to use steroids - but if it IS the PMR then that is what is needed. Ibuprofen gel is a wate of time and money - and also has long term side effects even if fewer and more delayed than with ibuprofen tablets - they stuff is absorbed into the body, it wouldn't work if it weren't.
PMR does NOT last just 2 years or less - a recent study confirms that it is more like 6 years, not 2 before patients get off pred. You will find it in the links under this heading "Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Steroid Side Effects: New Findings" in this post
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pmr-gca-website-addresses-and-resources-35316
About a quarter of patients are able to get off pred in under 2 years but then remain at a higher risk than others of a recurrence. I think it is because the activity of the disease fluctuates over time and sometimes patients who are reducing relatively quickly are able to get to zero while it is fairly inactive - only to have a return of symptoms a few months later after it has reactivated.
No wonder the NHS is in a mess - just hand out a panacea that actually doesn't do anything for most things and leave the patient to get acutely ill...