Hi went back to Drs as was in bad pain again. Psr went up from 16 to 18, as I was hurting so much Dr thought it may go up to 40ish as has been up as high as 60. Now told to stay on daily 7.5 pred & take paracetamol as well 4 times a day as he thinks pain might not be just PMR. I have been on the tablets he's suggested for a week but made no difference to pain, was tapering down and was about to start 5mg daily before the bad pains started again.
Hi Jo, sorry you have had no effective help from your doctor. I think I would be inclined to go with Eileen's suggestion in an earlier post and up your pred to the point where you felt ok and see if that cures the pain and stiffness. As she said, you have tapered quite quickly and maybe came off the pred too soon the first time as well. If you don't try you won't know. Good luck
Jo, as Diana says it sounds like you dropped to quickly. If you are on 7.5mg now and intended to go down to 5mg a day thats one hell of a drop in one go, half a mg would be a good size drop. As suggested I would up the pred and see if the pain stops then drop slowly by 1mg or even half a month and see how it goes. Good luck anyway and alll the very best.
I can't add anything to what I said before - except to say that paracetamol os no use in PMR except for very mild cases and has side effects of its own. Obviously your GP has not read the recent publication from Australia about the ineffectiveness of paracetamol and its effects on the liver!
All he has to do to see if it is PMR is to give you a course at a higher dose for a few days - if the pain goes it is an indicator he has reduced your dose far too fast and in too big steps.
Below 10mg you need to reduce in 1mg steps at the absolute outside - and 1/2mg steps are better - with at least 4 to 6 weeks between drops to make sure the new dose still controls the pain. You are not aiming straight for zero, you are looking for the lowest dose that manages the pain as well as possible. It is obvious that 7.5mg is not enough to control the inflammation at this stage - if it isn't then there is no point taking any at all. You need enough or don't bother at all.
If this GP can't work it out, see another and discuss it with them. And if they won't do anything other than paracetamol, insist on a referral to a rheumatologist since you have a history of PMR and this is a relapse which it appears to be beyond your GP to deal with.
You mentioned head pain last time - if that continues you MUST see a specialist as it could be the beginnings of GCA. If it gets really bad or your sight is affected go straight to A&E and tell them your history.
A friend who had PMR several years ago went to our local GP who specialises in rheumatology and the GP told him not to drop more than half a mg a month. He said this was the best advice he could have been given and recommended it to me. He had no flares and just slowly reduced. Unfortunately the GP has now retired.