Asthma and increased Prednisone dose

Hi Elijo

Thank you for your quick reply. My GP lets me do my own thing with the PMR and pred. I have told him about the forum and he is quite happy for me titrate the dose. I am seeing him on Tuesday so will have a little chat to see what he thinks. I have also been diagnosed with COPD as well as Asthma. More lifestyle adjustments but I can  still go round to the op shops which I do enjoy!!!!

Hi ;Kassie, I'm so glad you can still go around to the op shops and enjoy your life to the best.  Sounds as if you have a very understanding flexible MD. Great!  I was dx 3 wks ago and am on 40 mg. pred and feel GREAT, high energy, "up", functioning well, Hope this lasts.  My dose will be decreased byi 10 mg. on Dec. 1, hope it isn't too fast.  My cut on my hand a week ago has not healed, some trouble sleeping, good apetite, swelling of ankles and lots of hand cramps espec. lately.  I can deal with all of that espec. after that awful sudden episode of PMR which left me functionless.  I truly believe there are so many factors which cause our diseases, and a true believer of the brain and body being connected so much more than we ever realize.  Psychosomatic!  I've been in very good health for my age, but this last few months so much has happened, I hurt myself kayaking in August, my brother died Sept. 1, I took a terrible fall in Madrid Spain on my second tour day, Sept. 12 and "lived" on naprosyn 550 mg. twice a day to get through the 2-wk. tour.  That med casuded ankle edema, then I had a court case to go to, everything at once, I was hurting, then the pain meds did not help me when I suddenly stiffenend up and could not even get out of bed, or function, improving only slightly during the day.  So, my dx. of PMR and prednisone!  I truly feel stress brought this on, my body was trying to tell me something.  There's usually a reason for everything, and we do not always know it, or how to figure it out.  I do hope you begin to feel better, COPD and asthma are very difficult.  My late husband (several yrs ago) had so many emergencyi admissions to the hospital for sudden asthma attacks.  Do take care.  Elijo

Sounds like you lived through a perfect storm of events that could well have led to the inflammation of PMR.  Hope things are better now and that you heal well and uneventfully!

Thanx for the kind wishes Anhaga, and hope you continue to do well.  I love tis site and a so glad I found it, and the wonderfuil responders like you, who take the time to give suggestions and reply.  there are so many really good, caring people in the world and all we need to do is find them, sometimes where we least susect the most!!!   Elijo

Gosh, you have had some big stress issues. I am sorry to hear about your brother.  Yes, I do believe that stress and other factors can precede PMR. I remember my previous GP said that traumatic events to the body were a possible precursor to PMR. In my case I started getting PMR symptoms after having a partial knee replacement. The PMR was not diagnosed though for 16 months. I do believe that was my trigger. I am concerned about your 10mgm drop in your pred dose. Your initial dose of pred is higher than usual recommended dose. It is usually 15-20mgms. No wonder you feel good. Is your GP familiar with PMR? What is the reduction plan they have for you? Might be an idea to ask so that you can gather information to take to your GP if your reduction causes problems. 

I hope things are turning around for you.

Take care

Kathy

Hi Anhaga

Thank  you for your kind thoughts. 

The Asthma appeared to have been triggered by 2 days of forced bed rest due to severe sciatica. I literally could not move. So it was thought that the  lying flat for the 2 days and sleeping a lot due to pain medication caused my lungs to succumb to infection and Asthma. As I said all is good now

from the Asthma point of view.  I do hope your husband is ok with his Asthma. 

Take care

Kathy

Hi Eileen

Thanks for your input. Interesting about the sciatica. Man it was cruel.  I shall up the pred to 20mgms I think. Then slowly reduce down again. Do you agree with that plan? Mmmm I might  have to go buy some parsnips as well!!!!

I have one in the bottom of the fridge - right weather for them too!

I take my sciatica to a Bowen therapist these days, now I have found one here. Works even better than pred and was how I kept it at bay in the 5 years of PMR before pred!

How strange is this disease...the sciatica mention rings a bell with me as well...i'm feeling kinda rubbish as trying my best to keep things moving along naturally but the exhaustion after my working week is having a detrimental effect on my grand kids sleepover at the weekend...i think they are probably a bit hyper leading up to christmas but my tolerance level seems to have gone down the tubes...

Oh, Issy. I remember thinking before that you have a lot on your plate. It isn't surprising that you are exhausted. I also remember you saying that you enjoy having your grandchildren and the activities you do with them. They will be hyper but they are probably more confined indoors because of the weather just now. This will mean their energy is not being burnt off. I am retired so can pace myself and even then grandchildren are tiring. That's why our bodies can't have children after a certain age! Like you I love to have my grandchildren to stay. Is it possible to enlist the help of a friend to ease the exhaustion 

Sorry. I accidentally pressed reply before I had finished. Could the friend do some activities when you are cooking or cook when you do the activities? Can you bulk cook and freeze before they come? Perhaps you already do all this. I think you are trying to do too much when you are living with PMR. No wonder your tolerance levels are low. Mine would be too.

"trying my best to keep things moving along naturally but the exhaustion after my working week is having a detrimental effect on my grand kids sleepover at the weekend"

If you are still attempting to do everything you did pre-PMR you will feel awful and you won't feel any better until you learn to pace yourself, rest as needed and, above all, to say no, I can't manage that just now...

Feeling "intolerant" is a "symptom" of PMR. Pred probably adds to it. Many people find having even a quiet and responsible adult or two to visit is too much and leaves them exhausted. I know quite a few who have had to stop having people to stay unless they do it all themselves. When my girls visited they got the bed cleared (all put-you-up varieties since we only have 3 rooms) and the bedding waiting to make up themselves. I manage the washing at the end - but over weeks, not days! 

It sounds harsh - but it is the reality of having a chronic illness. If you overdo it it will turn round and bite you, you will feel even worse and if you really overdo things you will end up with a flare that won't respond as well to rest at the current pred dose - which will mean needing a higher dose and probably more side-effects. That is in the short-term but it may also mean long term side effects. If you persistently need a higher dose - you may end up permanently needing a higher dose. Management of PMR is not just taking pred, that is just a part of it. Pacing and resting is just as important.

Eileen, that is so true.  Every couple of weeks a handful of women writer friends get together for an evening and when it is my turn to host I find it harder and harder to do even the minimum I think is necessary to allow people into my house!  They all say they don't mind clutter, but I am ashamed. Now if hubby and I could just get into the habit of promptly recycling newspapers, letters and junk mail instead of allowing them to accumulate....  I knew my friends understood when I was relatively immobilized with the broken leg, but now because I know they don't "see" the disability I feel I must perform to higher standards.

If people want to see you, they want to see YOU - not a glistening house. Clutter is something you can deal with by being sensible - we have bags for recycling on the balcony and they are emptied every time they are full, there is a small box in the kitchen to load each day or two and then transferred outside. Living in Germany and here makes it part of life and it is a habit that is really quite easy to acquire since the more you recycle the cheaper your trash bills are! 

Though I do have to say - living here means an absolute minimum of junk mail which is wonderful! The UK was hellish...

But "performing to higher standards" is something YOU set for yourself. You need to consider where reasonable is and learn to draw the line. I wouldn't want to visit someone whose house was dirty so I wasn't sure I wanted to eat or drink there or where I couldn't sit down without clearing a space first. But a large attractive bag in the corner of the room that happily accepts the paper rubbish until it is full is something else. We recycle cans and bottles almost every day - they go in a bag and thence to the recycling tub in the carpark on the way to the village shops. Everything else is probably done every 6 weeks.