eye pain..pmr or prednisone?

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Hi, all! I am fairly new to this forum. Ive been on 20mg prednisone for about 2 months now. My PCP and Rhuematologist arent convinced I havr PMR now. My question is this: Ive started having eye pressure and slight pain in left eye. Could it be due to the pred., PMR or GCA? My PCP took me off statins, not

sure why, and am worried about bad side effects from prednisone.I also have thrroid tumor which needs to be biopsied. Sorry so many issues ! I have no one to turn to about this. Thanks for any imput you can give me. I really do  appreciate this discussion group so much!

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I am not going to give you advice on all of your issues because I know other people will be on here that are better informed than me to give you advice. But I wanted to say one thing that is important. You did not say whether the prednisone is relieving your pain or not. At 20 mg it should be and if it's not then it is likely not PMR. But you did say that you have a tumor in your thyroid. That can affect your body aching as well. So if you are having body pain and not getting relief from the prednisone I would suspect your thyroid .

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Thanks! I actually have felt much better since I started on prednisone, but it took about 2 weeks for it to kick in. I started at 15mg then DR put me on 20mg. I still have debilitating neck pain and wrist and rib pain, though, which arent relieved by prednisone.

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hi susan. I'm new to this site too...I was diagnosed with PMR 5 months ago after months of doctors thinking it was other medical problems.I've had 4 autoimmune disorders starting at 16 with hashimotos of thyroid..crohns of the colon at 17..lupus at 32...then thyroid nodules at 54 that were biopsy and postive for cancer..they removed my thyroid 5 years ago..and now I have PMR..what a battle this is..I'm managed now and with two days of prednisone I was symptom free of thigh pain ..shoulder and neck pain...I could barely walk from the girdle and thigh pain..I struggled to even get my arms up to get dressed. I'm now taking 10 mg and it's good..but when I go down to 9 mg I get symptoms back...I'm on methotrexate too once a week..I feel like something isnt right in the back of my head it has a lump. it's hot to touch and I've had aching in my left eye too..I've had at least 5 episodes of double vision...I see my doctor in 2 weeks...my sed rate and c reactive protein are normal now from meds..so hoping meds are causing eye situation and not GCA..ll see...please note that 95% of nodules on thyroid are not cancer..my sister and I both fell in the 5% that are cancer..but we're both found in stage 1...so doing great with that..I wish you the best this is a struggle and I hope we don t take 3 to 5 years to be off these meds..

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Hi, NLM, It sound like you have had a very tough time! so sorry to hear you are going through all that. Ive read that prednisone can cause eye pain. Hopefully, that is the case for both of us! My sister also had thyroid cancer. I wish you all the best as well! I guess, with this disease, we just have to keep plugging away to figure it all out! Good luck to you!

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thank you susan..your so right..I went in remission with other autoimmune disorders so I believe this one will do the same eventually...I'm sure your doing the same as I am trying to stay positive and recover quickly from this .the meds are no fun that's for sure..the biopsy of thyroid nodules wasn't painful at all..really strange we both had sisters with thyroid cancer . our family has a lot of autoimmune disorders..must be genetic..hope you get good news when you have your biopsy..keep me posted Please..

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I would suspect your eye symptoms may be more likely to be due to the thyroid problem - and to be honest, if you have thyroid problems that could also contribute to PMR-type symptoms. 

The place to go with your eye question is your optometrist or, even  better, eye specialist.

The other pain you describe, left-over after starting the pred, could be due to myofascial pain syndrome which is often found alongside PMR. Do you have a physiotherapist or sports massage therapist you could ask?

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Hi, Eileen, thanks for responding. Unfortunately, I don't have a sports massage therapist. Is rib pain part of this syndrome?

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Thanks so much, NLM. I will keep you posted!

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Better advice to follow, but I wanted to mention that 3 years ago, at the start of my PMR, I did have some eye pain...felt a little like eye strain. I saw my ophthalmologist then and many times since...all ok. I didn't know if it was the PMR or the prednisone causing the pain. Good idea to have it checked by an eye specialist.

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Part of myofascial pain syndrome you mean? It can be.

Typical of MPS is the formation of trigger points which can be felt as hard knots in the muscles. They are concentrations of the same inflammatory substances that causes PMR when they are systemic. They form in pairs on either side of the spine, in shoulders, about rib level and in the lower back. They can irritate nearby nerves which then leads to referred pain depending on where it is - in arms and neck, in the ribs and in the buttocks and things (as sciatica).

Here I get massage therapy with manual myofascial release treatments - on the healthcare system. But this is German-speaking Italy where they don't regard the idea as woo!!

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Thanks, Kathy. I will do that!

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Eileen, You are so knowledgeable on everything and we are so lucky to have you in this forum. Thank you for all you do!