I was diagnosed with PMR 4 weeks ago and started on 7 and half mg of pred as i am very sensivitive to medication. After a week went up to 10 mg. still having pain so went up to 15 mg. have had tingly, numblike sensations in my head, sometimes a bit of pain and wondered if anyone else has had these. Also last 2 nights have had horrible irregular pounding heartbeats. Had to go to A&E the first night. Has anyone else suffered from this side effect ?
I had the tingly and numbness in my hands in the beginning for several months, I ws started on 10 then had to go to 20 after several months. I do not remember and pounding heartbeats. I had realy bad cramping in my hands, back and legs. It lasted untell I was lowered to 10 or so. The higher you of up on meds the more sideaffects could happen. I too am senstive to meds, so I seem to get all the side affects.
Hello Jan.. When I was first diagnosed over 2 year's ago, 20mg of Pred gave me terrible palpitations. I thought I was about to have a heart attack. I was also very fractious and couldn't relax.However, when my dosage was reduced I was much better. Hope this reassures you a bit.
Some people do get palpitations with pred - but the PMR can cause it too. I developed atrial fibrillation early in the PMR although I didn't realise what it was until it happened for another reason whilst in hospital (a reaction to a drug) and once it had been treated I realised what the wierd sensations had been! It wasn't pred that caused it as it was when I wasn't on pred.
Starting at a low dose and working up almost never works - however sensitive you are to medication. It's better to start at 15 and then concentrate on working down to find the lowest dose steadily but not too fast. One study in Italy found that 12.5mg/day is enough to get a good result in 75% of patients within a month, anything less didn't achieve anything.
If the head sensations get worse do discuss it with your doctor, especially if you notice any problems with vision. PMR can be an early symptom of GCA and that can cause jaw pain when eating, scalp pain, headache and so on. Don't panic - but don't ignore anything like that either.
Bababoyd: you have a bit to go yet for all the side effects of pred - there are 82 listed! My mother-in-law was like you, one tablet and she would show the most serious side effects of anything! She could have saved the pharmaceutical world a fortune and a lot of time ;-)
Can only repeat what already been said! I personally think that 7 and a half was a bit low to start. They started me on 30mg and reduced to 25 within 5 days and then down to 20 and 15 at roughly the same time scale, from there on it was down in very gently steps 1 mg a month (should be roughly a 10% reduction). I still get an ache in the wrist and sometime the neck/shoulders but this goes off after 2/3 hours afer the 'preds' kick in.
Hope it gets sorted - it a long game!
Hello Tired Lady, thank you for your post, reassuring to know that someone else had same experience. i am being woken up in the middle of the night by my palpitations and it is really scary. They dont seem to happen during the day. When did you get yours? I also am very restless all the time and find that my breathing is not calm too.
Thanks for replying Oregonjohn. I persuaded them to start me on a low dose as i sometimes have severe reaction to meds. My aches are much better, but its my head whch is worrying me now, as well as the horrible palpitations and the fatigue. My life seems to be on hold at the moment as i cant do anything other than exist from day to day. The restlessness and anxiety are also horrible
I had them most of the time. In fact the sound of my heart pounding in my ears during the night was very scary. However, my doctor reassured me and reduced the dose which was much better. I am now going up again. Managed to reduce to 5 mg but was deteriorating so at present I am managing on 7.5 mg. good luck in your journey with PMR. Longer journey than I originally thought but I am mobile in short bursts!
Hi Jan. I too get palpitations, mostly in the mornings though. I was interested to know, when you went to A&E, did you have an ECG? I recently went for a pre-op appointment and they were worried by my high pulse rate and did an ECG which showed that I have an abnormal heartbeat. I am now waiting to see a cardiologist. I am not trying to worry you even more but as Eileen often says, we (or the doctors) should not just assume that all symptoms are due to the pred. The PMR itself can cause some nasty complications. I hope I am wrong in your case and it IS just(?) the dreaded pred side effects. Take care, Debbie
Hi Debbie. I just had a 24 hour ecg done. Am waiting for the results. I was woken up 7 times with palps last night. As my restlessness and anxiety seem to be so bad since i started on pred i think that is what is causing them, but will let you know when i get results. Good luck with the cardiologist. Let me know how it goes. Jan