Somewhere I read that some persons are having good luck with taking Pred every other day instead of every day. Has anyone heard of or done this? It sounds promising, somehow.
Barbara
It is used in quite a few illnesses where pred is needed and is thought to lead to fewer side effects as the body has longer without pred being in the tissues. It is not recommended until your daily dose gets down to 10mg and then it can be considered. More than 20mg doses do induce side effects whether they are every 2 days or not.
I used it for a couple of years and it suited me well - until I developed symptoms that could have been GCA. If you are a person for whom the anti-inflammatory effect of pred lasts well over 24 hours (it can be anything from 12 to 36) then it may work. If you are a 12 hour person it probably won't. It is not suitable for patients with GCA so I was told to go back to daily doses.
It is mentioned occasionally in medical texts but rarely in association with PMR - and explicitely warned against for GCA.
Eileen -- thanks for your usual good reply. You say you developed symptoms that "could have been GCA," so I'm glad you put it that way, and I'm assuming it didn't develop, thank God. Am I right?
Barbara
I had had scalp pain and jaw claudication in the early days of PMR but they went away. My presenting symptom had been thigh claudication. All classic symptoms of GCA but that was it, they never progressed. I had developed blurry and double vision in the mornings but the rheumy here said try 15mg/day, no alternate day doses. It all calmed down. But I almost certainly have had large vessel vasculitis, just it didn't get to inside my head to affect vision properly. The local guy here is of the opinion that only cases with visual symptoms really need the high doses - but then there is no question, big doses and as long as needed.
just a little worried, the only pain i still get is in my hip, it comes and goes, really painful when i get it and makes it hard to stand and walk, the min I sit down it stops, could this be claudication or just PMR.
Claudication is only really there when walking or climbing stairs. If it is really in your hip - go you mean the groin area? - it could be trochanteric bursitis which is very common alongside PMR at any stage. I have just had a flare. A cortisone shot in the right place is the best way to deal with that - although I had it badly when I finally was put onto pred and it faded after about 6 months on oral pred.