I have been reducing from pred by the DSNS method for the last 3 months coming from 15mg to almost 13mg. I was doing fine until 2 days ago when my hip started to ache. Yesterday it was so painful to get up from a chair and and even walking around was painful. Lying in be last night was painful too and I don't feel I am going to get much relief from pain today either. I have had hip pain in the past but nothing like this. I don't remember doing anything different that may have hurt it apart from sitting on the floor for a little while. (I do feel generally more sore across my shoulders and back but not so much that it would make me increase my pred). So my question is this. Is this what everyone is talking about when they talk about a flare? Should I take ibruprofen and paracetamol and hope that helps, or do I up my pred to 15mg for a couple of days to see if that helps? Or is this something completley unrelated to PMR and should I go to the doctors if it continues? Thanks!
Yours is a classic case of a localized flare-up of symptoms, whereas others may be referring to a seemingly systemic increase in the level of a greater variety of pmr symptoms.
I generally suffer with only one or at most two symptoms at a time these days, but still this can still wander from one region to another and can greatly alter my pred dosage requirement needed to prevent disability.
PMR tends to have a "mind of it's own" and not only can move from location to location in the body but can also range from manageable with a small dose of steroid to requiring double or triple as much steroid with no apparent change in one's lifestyle seeming to be the cause.
Some patients get by with a more steady dosage level, perhaps some of these patients are tapering so much more slowly that their average dosage is high enough to conceal any changes in their dosage requirement.
When my hip acts up it is crippling, but is also one of my pmr symptoms that seems to clear up rapidly with only a small adjustment to my pred dosage.
My shoulders are very different in that it seems to take a tripling of my low dosage to control the longer-term pain issues which I believe stem from bursitis and/or synovitis.
Thanks Dan, I was nearer getiing to 13 than 14mg so will stay on 14 rather than tapering and see what happens over the next couple of days. If that does not help will go onto a higher dose for a little while. I have had hip pain before but not as bad as this so I hope it settles down quickly. The joys of PMR
Sounds like possibly a flare of hip bursitis - you could have irritated it sitting on the floor because of the position. Have you done stairs more than usual too?
If it continues then a doctor might consider steroid injections - works far better than oral steroids.
Thank Eileen, looking at the symtoms for bursitis it does look like it could be that. I climb stairs regularly so can only think it was sitting on the floor. Can I take ibruprofen alongside steroids? do you think this will help?
You shouldn't really take NSAIDs and pred together (both cause stomach irritation and both together makes it more likely) - and to be honest it never helped me much. I find even "standing wrong" can start it off and then ANY activity makes it worse - you know, like ricking your neck and then carrying shopping
Ice and rest would be a good start.
As always Elieen, yours is the voice that tells me what I really know myself but don't want to do. I want to keep going but you are right i need to rest. I will take it easy over the weekend and see how I go after that. Thanks
Funny that - a lot of people say something similar
I think every one of us has weak spot in their body and somehow PMR finds it. I have weak knees from sport injury and corrective surgery after. This is the spot that PMR likes to hang out every couple of months or so. To recover I use combination of massage, stretching, rest and topical pain medication ( cream or patches)... I don't change my pred dosage.
Thanks for replying Nick, I just think I am getting the hang of PMR and then something else happens. I was about to reduce again by 1mg but will just hang out on 14 for a couple of extra days to see how I am going. Will check out some stretches for hips in the meantime and of course rest (Eileen) Thanks
Hi Elizabeth 40672, we are all on individuals on this battle with PMR. I personally will not reduce my Phed if I have any pain. My Rheumy is not happy with that, but I tell her that okay! Good luck.🙂
I know your comments were directed at Elizabeth but you said some things that struck a chord with me. When you talked about PMR pain moving around the body and effecting different places I have been experiencing a lot of that recently and I did not think it was PMR. In fact I was starting to believe I could possibly have fibromyalgia in addition to PMR. I will be seeing my rheumatologist next week and obviously I will go over all this with her. She knows I've been suffering from a lot of extraneous pain and she's the one who's bumped up my prednisone from the 10 MG I was on to 15 mg. My inflammation markers are still high also.
amkoffe, how many mg are you taking now? Do you have pain all the time? How about after you take the Phed?
I'm currently taking 15 mg. I had just barely got to 10 mg and in fact had a tough time getting there and frankly it didn't look like it was going to work this time either. Then I got sick and was in the hospital and was put on 50 mg of prednisone for three days then 30 mg of prednisone for three days and then they had me back down to 10 mg . When I got back to 10 mg my PMR pain was out-of-control . So I contacted my rheumatologist and she told me to go up to 15 mg and that's where I've been since mid May . It has taken care of all of my known PMR symptoms . But now I've been getting these random pains that last a few hours . Like at this very moment for no reason at all the top of my left foot hurts .
Is the pain more joint pain than muscle? That might suggest an inflammatory arthritis called palindromic rheumatism. It typically moves around the body, affecting one place for a few hours or sometimes days, disappears and reappears somewhere else. The gaps between can vary a lot.
amkoffe, I was on 7 mg had to. 30 mg, Dr wanted me to reduce in 2 weeks. Said, NO was on 30 mg for about 6 weeks pain free for 2weeks and started to reduce, that will be my regiment. Reduce pain free 2 weeks, reduce. Hope next flare I do not have to go to 30 mg. Good luck!
Yes it is in my joints. And my rheumatologist wanted to try to treat me for rheumatoid arthritis medicine even though my test came back negative. So I'm currently taking hydroxychloroauine. I've been on them for about 2 weeks and she said it can take 4 weeks to see any improvement.
Since the increase was only for 6 days I didn't feel it necessary to taper down slowly.
amkoffe, I do not disagree, but only pain free. PAIN free reduce!
For some people, waiting to be pain-free would mean they would NEVER reduce! There are other things besides PMR that can cause up pain - PMRpain-free is the criterion.