I feel spacey really bad after taking 10 mg of prednisone have been on it for 12 days.Starting wjth the 6 day dosage program the my blood work came back and she put me on 19 mg for a year.I was on benzos for sleep for two years .05 of xanax. the my new doc put me on lorazepam to wean me off xanax. My pain started suddenly as in pmr however I discovered that when I took the lorazepam the siffness would get worse..not take it it the pain would improve.Has anyone had a reaction that mimics pmr that is caused by a drug reaction?
Hi Carol, welcome to the site. I am relatively new to PMR just diagnosed November 2014 and am at present on 15mg of pred and due to reduce to 12.5mg. I am not qualified to answer your question but there will be someone who will be able to answer your questions. You will get plenty of advice, support and information from the more experienced people and they are a great bunch. Hang on in there and good luck in your journey. Regards Pat
Thank you so much for your reply.I have had this pain since the first of the year several dr appointments later pmr is what it appears to be.But the continued use of pred. is making me feel awful I am very sensitive to meds. The pain is gone so maybe to much pred. Friends and family are probably sick of hearing about it.I really need support from those who understand.
I fear you are at the beginning of quite a journey. If you really do have PMR you seem to have been started on a very low dose of pred. After 4 years I am still on 7 mgs. We all hate this medicine but we struggle along, we have no choice.
The experts will be along shortly. Keep your pecker up - and keep posting - there is always someone to listen, sympathise and advise.
Good luck!
Hi Carole, i have started a little experiment regarding not sleeping, as i was always waking up.
I went on line to see if there was any info about this, and one of the reason that came up was what you ate before bed.
Well my ;ast meal is always at seven, so i have started to have a pro-biotic yogurt and banana at nine thirty, 1st morning slept till 6, secondon morning slept till six thirty, this moring seven fifteen, now i am not saying this is why, but you could give it a try to help your sleeping you never know.
I feel better this morning ,
There are several drugs that will cause PMR-type muscle and joint pains, mainly statins. A gentleman on another forum got knee pain from risendronate (to prevent osteoporosis) that went away immediately he stopped taking it. Generally though those pains don't go with pred. Did the pain go altogether without the lorezepam? However, if she gave you pred on the basis of the blood tests she probably found signs of inflammation and it is doubtful the lorezepam would have caused that.
You have started at a low dose for PMR really but if it is working that is good. You will probably find the feeling improves after a short time, a lot of people feel a bit strange to start with. Although the best time to take pred is as early in the morning as possible, some people find by taking it at night they are still able to sleep and miss out on some of the side-effects as they happen while they are asleep.
Hi Carol, I do hope you get sorted out. What I find when I am reducing is that it takes my body a while to adjust. This could be happening to you, your body is still trying to adjust to an increased amount. You will get all the support here. Hope you get sorted. Keep in touch. Pat
I Tried passion flower lasi nite not the best sleep but not awake all nite. I have anappointment with another Dr.The one who gave me the pred had her nurse give me the results of my blood work over the phone told me to take the pred and go to a specialist...no explanation .I found the PMR throgh resea
Computer freeze! I didi my own research to find the answer syptoms are a perfect match as was the response to pred
Thank you for your response.This site is truely a blessing I don't feel so alone with this now .Bless you all! I will try it.
hi Carol and welcome to this wonderful forum😊. It is an amazing source of information and support.
I'm a little confused about your dosage. Did you start at 10mg and take it for 6 days to see how you would respond and then when your doctor got your bloodwork back it was increases to 19mg and you'll be taking the 19mg for a year.?
if you got relief from 10mg I wonder why he would increase it so much. Why not 15mg. I believe even the Bristol Plan has you down to 10mg before leaving you for a year.
Eileen and Mrs.O am I missing something here😕
i hope you get all this straightened out and can find a way to get some rest. A siesta in the afternoon suits most of us well and allows us to get through the rest of the day.
Hugs, Diana🌸
9 is next to 0 - I thought that too at first but assumed it's a typo!
Here's a load of links for you to look at - reliable and good info and a couple of other forums. Follow this link to another thread on this forum - I can't give you the links separately as they'll be blocked, these are "pre-approved"
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pmr-gca-website-addresses-and-resources-35316
I know the US has more of a separation between primary and specialist care than the UK - but that is the first time I've come across that, "here take this and go find yourself a rheumatologist"!
Carole let me know how you go on.
Has anyone ever had no appetite and lost weight on pred? I have,and I am not complaining about it!
as you know Carol i have lost weight, and think its due to loosing my appetite,hope you doing ok. take care regards Margaret
I worked part time for a very long time in a Drugs and Alcohol agency as manager for the tranquilizer team. (The other days I ws a therapist).
My job was to help people taper from prescribed medicines. Not an easy job but interesting and most often successful if it is done right.
I am not a medical professional but did work with the GP to help a person taper without too much distress. My personal opinion is that lorazepam is not the best drug to help somone come off of xanax. The reason being that it does not come in small amounts like diazepam. And the switch should be slow using both drugs at first in lower doses. Also the half life of lorezepam is much shorter implying people can go in and out of withdrawal. 1mg of lorezepam = 10mg of diazepam.
Depending on how you take your meds you could be going in and out of withdrawal. It could then mean that some of the pain is realted to that and if you do have PMR it may just work against it.
Can I ask, is the pain you speak of more muscle related? Also, I was not sure from your post if you are on 10mg or 19mg pred?
Yes I do agree my problems with this started when the switch was made to lorazapam I think I was in and out of withdrawal as you said Iwas also on mirtazapine for sleep.comming off of xanax I was depessed so my doc upped the mirt dose from 15 to 30 did't work well back down to 15 added celexa I can not ssris they give me chills and stiff muscles.When the pain started I researched the meds and found that mirt can cause that sort of pain so I went of it.Then discovered that when took the lorazepam I would wake up stiff and sore so I really could not taper even a quarter of a .05 mg. would do this. Pain is now terrible, doc is out of town 6 weeks to get appt. so I went to the xa
it is unfortunate that docs just dont get how it works.
Everything slowly, is the rul of thumb. reduction should be very slow and should take at least one month for every year you have taken it.
When he returns you could ask him if valium (diazepam) may be better for reduction because it comes in smaller doses and is easier to reduce...plus it can be taken in increments over the day.
computer freeze! so i went to the xanax doc got trigger point shot and six days of pred fixed pain over nite.The blood came back high inflamation was told to take10 mg pred for year and go to a specialist. this all started with anxiety and could not sleep hence xanax for sleep..05 mg for two years.still sleep the pred makes light headed all but the pain is gone. It's to the that just cringe when they out scrip pads.I know a real mess! I have my own pharmacy of drugs no of which take.Any suggestions? greatly appreciated.