Hi my name is Debra I have just started on 20 mg today for PMR I took it this morning and this afternoon I have anxiety not sure if it is med or my just starting new meds. Any suggestions?
Hi Debra, welcome to this site although like myself you would rather not have PMR. I am relatively new as well. I was diagnosed 12th November and that was the first day I had to take 20mg of pred. I remember feeling quite nervous, like butterflies in my stomach but after a week (I think) it went away.
There are more experienced people on here and they are a lovely bunch. You will be supported and any questions you may ask, you will definately get an answer. Hang on in there Debra, you are not alone.
Hi Debra, I have read that mood changes are not an uncommon side effect when first starting treatment with prednisolone. I am sure as soon as you feel the benefits of the medication your anxiety will disappear. Good luck....Diana
Thank you so much
Hi Debra, yes, as Pat and Diana have already said, it isn't at all unusual to feel a bit 'strange' on starting steroids. I started on 40mgs and was almost climbing the walls! I also felt as though my body was trembling inside (lost a fair bit of crockery due to the shakes!) These feelings do subside as your body adapts to the medication. I hope that at least you are feeling relief from your pain.
Thank you I don't know if I'm freaking myself out by know all the side effects what can you take for a headache while on pred?
I am feeling better today as far as pain but if this anixety continues my Dr gave me a Rx for naproxen sodium and may stop pred
I take the occasional paracetamol Debra. I think you should avoid the NSAID's family like Aspirin and Ibuprofen. As you say the list of side effects can be a bit freaky. I am doing my best to avoid any medication that is not absolutely necessary.
Hi Debra, I have been taking pred for nearly a year and I still freak out when I read about the possible side effects even though I actually only have a very small number of them, such as being starving hungry all the time, which I am sure is true of the very large majority of people (side effects that is, not being hungry!!). Some people will not be affected by side effects at all. Are you taking anything with the pred? I now take vit D and calcium which is recommended, but my rheumy forgot to mention it and then seemed surprised I was not taking anything. It was my pharmacist who told me about it. The pharmacist has been really helpful if I ask him about side effects of pred and I can drop into the chemist at any time. He is probably a lot more knowledgable about drugs than the average GP too.
Hang in there with the prednisone and your body will adjust at least i did after feeling very anxious and jittery and hyper for the first few days. I think it is normal to have these feelings when introducing prednisone into our bodies at the levels we have to to alleviate the pain. Good luck!
Thank you ☺
Are you just taking a multivitamin or separate at what strength ?
Hi Debra, sorry to hear that you are now one of us and that your first experience of preds has been a confusing one. I'm replying to you at 5am because this just happened to be a rather bad night and have I had a wink of sleep, no!
none of us on this site want to have PMR or to be slaves to prescribed medications especially a steriod but I'm sorry Debra get use to it because preds are the only drug that has any effect on PMR, so no matter how you feel, do not stop taking preds otherwise all of the pain and stiffness will return and that's a fact.
you should definitely have felt the stiffness and pain easing considerably and that's what you must always keep in mind because I can't imagine that you would want a return to how you must have felt. I echo all the other replies in that you must simply hang on in there. I've learned more about this condition from this site than I ever have from a GP. Infact pre diagnosis just over a year ago my then gp had no idea what could be wrong with me so whenever any of us have problems, queries or simply feel insecure or scared because we are experiencing 'something new' with our body always ask on this forum. It won't be long before you realise that you are not alone.
again as has already been said I take vit d, c, calcium and magnesium as supplements, and like you I try to refuse all additional drugs, but preds are one drug that none of us can do without. Good luck, christina
If you have PMR naproxen will do next to nothing. With all its downsides, pred is the only effective way to manage PMR. The early side effects usually calm down after a while, especially as you reduce the dose.
Not being rude - but are you big? The most common starting dose is usually 15mg but larger people may need more. Logically, the higher the dose the worse the side effects so maybe dropping to 15mg quite quickly may help the anxiety while still controlling the symptoms.
If you have a headache then paracetamol is the best option when on pred and codeine is an option for worse pain but that is prescription only these days isn't it? I don't know, I can't take codeine. On the other hand, if you develop a bad headache you may need to see your doctor as it could be a sign of the PMR having been a symptom of GCA developing.
MrsO lost crockery due to pred - I lost crockery, especially glasses, due to PMR! Took 2 hands to lift a cup of tea for a long time before pred - went back to normal after I was given pred.
By the way, there are 82 listed side effects of pred. No one develops them all, some are lucky and have few or none. Some are worse than others but many improve a lot after a few weeks.
I actually have a prescription for vit D and calcium now, although initially I bought a vit D and calcium supplement recommended by the pharmacist. I get my prescriptions free though. I also asked my GP for a blood test for vit D and I was pretty defficient. During the summer I used to lie out in the sun with a cup of tea and a book which I have never really bothered to do before and loved it. My vit D went up very quickly. I have become a sort of nerd regarding food content, magnesium, calcium, vit D etc etc and must bore all my friends silly although I have got them all drinking beetroot juice. I also cut out gluten and simple carbs (well nearly) as I had heard this would stop me getting a moon face, I don't know if this is true or not, but I have found nutrition quite fascinating, something else I had not bothered with before and so far have not got a moon face!
Eileen I weigh 178 and I am 5"3 I need to loose dome pounds Dr started me on 20 mg for two weeks then drop to 17.5 for two weeks then so on as the doses get lower I will be in those for a month at a time
Thank you so much, do you take those vitamins separately or a multivitamin if separate what strength?
I do hope he won't continue reducing you willy nilly at that speed. No reduction should really be more than 10% of your current dose and if you go too fast you will miss the dose you are looking for: the lowest dose that manages the symptoms. It isn't an illness where you get rid of the inflammation and then stop taking the pred, the cause is an ongoing autoimmune disorder and as long as it is active you will need some pred to control the symptoms. Doctors keep telling patients that you will be off pred in a year or two - I've had PMR for 10 years, been on pred for well over 5 of them. I am now at 4mg, the lowest dose I've managed yet.
This is a link to a thread on this forum which has links to other forums as well as the info site for the northeast of England support group - lots of info to widen your knowledge about PMR! All reliable and medically approved. There is also a link to a medical paper with advice on reducing - a bit slower than your doc's and they keep you at 10mg for a year but it achieves a flare rate of 1 in 5 instead of the 3 in 5 found with other reduction plans. Flares are most often caused by reducing too far or too fast.
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pmr-gca-and-other-website-addresses-35316
I have found I have been able to lose weight (nearly 40 lbs) by cutting carbs drastically. Pred alters the way your body processes carbs and it tends to make you put on weight and you may develop pre-diabetes too. I am not the only one who has lost weight - it is possible and worth aiming for - it does need a fair bit of discipline though.
Hi Debra, I take my supplement as so.
vit c, 500mgs.
magnesium 188 mgs, vit d 5 micrograms, calcium 500mgs, that's all in 1 tablet.
iron 14 mgs.
vit b complex, RDA amount.
these 4 tablets I take daily. Some people take much larger amounts of some or all of these supplements but what is important is that you take magnesium suppliments when you take large amounts of vit c and for calcium, take half the amount of magnesium to calcium.
Always check that taking suppliments is ok. Good luck, christina
That is interesting my previous GP and my current one have both told me not to take magnesium supplements, I am not certain why not but they were both quite adamant.