Last Tuesday I dropped half mg of pred so now I am on 12 mg ,however I now know to expect withdrawal pain ,but appear to be very shaky mainly in the mornings .I take my tablets after breakfast and Amatrytolyn at night for nerve pain in neck and head which I have had for years .Although only recently given the Amatrytolyn .My question is ,does anyone else get the shakes when dropping thes preds .Some days it lasts hours sometimes can last until early evening. I do find it disconcerting and would be a comfort if someone else gets this as well.Carol
I get the shakes on my prednisone and when i taper i notice the shaking increases. I'm also on gabapentin (for nerve pain) so it's hard to tell specifically which drug is causing what. I can say that the shaking started on the prednisone. by amatrytolyn do you mean amitryptyline? if so, it can cause shaking as well. the combination of the two may be just too tempting for your body and thus the shaking. I do find it a little weird myself, but I've adapted. sometimes I need a cane because my legs get so wobbly. your body will adjust.
thankyou Lisa for your prompt reply . Yes I did mean Amitryptyline. Although I have been on PMR train for 3 months I still find it all a bit scary.
I had to look at the bottle to get the spelling right, lol. I don't take it but my cats do, interestingly enough. just tiny doses. it works to keep their behavior modified. no shaking on their part.
I'm a GCAer, but we have some of the same lovely issues and same meds.
the doc gave me the option of either amit. (I'm going to abbrev it, lol) or gabapentin and I went the gabapentin route. both cause shaking. I never quite know when it's going to come on, but evening is my worst time (and I take them throughout the day.) I do keep a cane in the car for times when my legs aren't really interested in doing long distance (or short distance) walking, stairs, or anything where I'm not sure what my body will have to tackle. It mostly stays in the car, but it's nice to know it's there. A walking stick is probably more stylish, but I had the cane from when I broke my knee 4 years ago and I'm too cheap to buy another.
I found that the prednisone triggered Peripheral Neuropathy in my body, specifically in my head and my esophagus, so that have massive nerve pains all over my head like fireworks, and same in my esophagus. I'm wondering if the prednisone didn't stir up a wee bit of pain in your old injury. is that why you started on the amit?
in any event, my docs say that eventually my body will stop shaking as much as my body gets used to the medicines. I started on the prednisone due to the GCA around christmas 2014, so I've been on that drug for 2 months and on gabapentin for about 5 wks. I have noticed that I'm not as wobbly as I was initially. hope that works out for you too.
"my cats do, interestingly enough. just tiny doses. it works to keep their behavior modified" - does it work on children too? ;-)
I'm intrigued: what is the difference between a cane and a walking stick? I assumed they were just different names for the same thing?
I guess by cane I just mean any old metal thing used to get around, while a walking stick is much fancier, carved sometimes, even a nice hiking stick. you can buy a cane at a pharmacy here in the USA, but a nice walking stick has to be purchased elsewhere.
Have had nerve pain neck and head since I was in my early 20s. I am now 66 .Different titles were give for it. . Neuralgia being one of them .I was a draughts woman all my working life so bent over drawing boards , also knocked down by drunk driver . So either could have brought neck pain on . However in those day sedatives was the answer after 10 years of that ended up on antidepresants for 2 years . Still had face neck and now shoulderpain. Sent to pain clinic etc .Just told to give up drawing painting and craft . More rounds of doctors and then about 4 years ago dental specialist sujjested amatryptolyn . Now I didn't want to go down that rute again although the pain has been quite chronic the last few years . So have been paying privately for massage and Accupuncture , which is the one thing that has helped . Last November went to Doctors because pain had joined in qute suddenly down left side of neck shoulder arm . Saw different doc to usual . She gave me blood tests . When I went for result saw my usual doc. she was quite shocked by result and thought PMR straight away put me on preds .Do wonder if I had had PMR for some time . Any about six weeks ago nerve pain in head came on more often and quite severe that's when she sujjested amatryptolyn . ( I have it on my spell chk now ) I plucked up the courage to go for it this time . So far so good , early days and as I have been painting and sewing today it is starting up faintly , but take that as to be expected . Hopefully it will make it just a back ground issue . Interestingly my 37 year old daughter was told she has Fybromialgia and is suffering quite badly .A lot of the symptoms she had I can relate to when I was her age , so do wonder if issues like this can run through family's . I have got a walking pole that I bought when we had a lot of snow a few years ago , have dog on lead in one hand and pole in other . Also stops me falling over in mud , but I guess I could get a few strange looks in M&S or Tesco . Hope you soon start to feel a bit better .GCA is not good , also have noticed pred is messing with my eye so that must not be good for you . Did read that eye drops help stop the dry eye which come with taking pred . You don't need that as well as GCA .Good luck
glad to hear you're doing art and sewing. I've been trying to keep up with my embroidery/cross stitch these days. I'm a little slower than normal, lol. And you're right, eyesight is a mess. Dry eye is a problem. my doc suggested eye drops too and they help.
hey, don't worry about the funny looks with the walking pole-you use what you use what you have to use. and who knows? maybe it will become fashionable .
I was thinking of you today when I started shaking when I tried to get my cup of tea. Misery loves company . Hope you do feel better soon.