I have another question about tapering the prednisone while I have a sore foot. I just taper from 10 mg to 9 mg during January and it went well. The opinion of this forum was to continue on 9 mg and not attempt a further reduction because of the navicular bone issue in my foot. I have read literature that says prednisone can reduce blood circulation to your joints, but prednisone should also be helping my injury, right? I saw the podiatrist in December...no fracture...and will see him again in March. Could the prednisone have weakened the bones in my feet, together with overuse, to cause the injury? Sorry to go on and on..have had the bad foot since November...been "off my feet" for over a week, icing and resting it. Thank you.
It probably hasn't weakened the bones in your feet in the time you have been on pred but it could make ligaments and tendons a bit less tough. The stuff in the literature about pred reducing blood circulation to joints is probably referring to something called osteonecrosis - which isn't common and doesn't typically affect the feet although it can do so. I would have thought the podiatrist would have seen suggestions of that - I assume he x-rayed your foot at least? The trouble with foot injuries it is a bit difficult to not aggravate a foot problem without being totally "off your feet" isn't it.
Thank you Eileen, I guess I should stop reading about the long-term effects of the prednisone since it must be taken for a lng time if you have PMR! The podiatrist did not x-Ray because he was confident that it was a moderate overuse injury...no fracture...yet I continued to overuse the foot by being on it every day. He would have booted my foot. I will stay off of it for another week and see. Thank you!
While I definitely don't recommend being totally dismissive of the future in all things, in the case of pred and pMR I'm working on the live for today concept. If I had spent the last 5 years in a wheelchair - which I was heading for - it would have sent me in the direction of a lot of things including oesteoprosis, depression and unhappiness. As it is, while there have been some INTERESTING moments (for want of a better word), on the whole it has been fairly good and things are definitely getting much better.
If the man told you it was overuse - I think he meant to stop using it for a while ;-) I know how frustrating it is - but RICE is the order of the day! Lots of reading with the foot up...